Shattered Trust - Betrayal
by cleotheo
Summary: A mindless threat from Voldemort during a fight with Harry leads the Order down a dark path which will shatter lives, ruin friendships and tear families apart. Among those most affected by their rash actions are Harry's best friend, Hermione Granger and her secret boyfriend, Draco Malfoy. Part one of a four part story.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N – Welcome back and Happy New Year to all my readers. I thought I'd start the year by explaining about my posting schedule for the coming year.**

 **Like last year, Mondays and Fridays are going to be dedicated to my dark stories. However, I haven't currently got any dark stories finished (although I do have a few heading towards the end). That includes the Goddess of Vengeance sequel, which means I can't give a start date for when it's going to be published, but I am still hoping to get it out during the first half of the year (but that's not to say another story might be finished sooner and is published before it). I can promise that the sequel will be published this year – people might just have to be patient. But until I have a dark story either finished, or near enough to be finished that I'm happy to start publishing it, Mondays and Fridays will be when I'll post the odd one shot and collection piece.**

 **Tuesdays and Thursdays will be the days I post my other longer stories which aren't dark. That will start next week with a mystery story set in the same universe as Femme Fatale. And Wednesdays will be for the publication of this story – Shattered Trust.**

 **As for Shattered Trust, it's a four part story which will build into one long story. I decided to split the story into four parts so I could give it more depth, and deal with each part of the story in it's own right. I've already finished the first three parts, and am working on the last part. Updates will be once a week, with a couple of weeks gap between each part. It means that the story will take the entire year to publish, so if that is going to be too drawn out for people they might want to wait until all four parts are published before they read it.**

 **However, I do hope people will read as I publish Shattered Trust, and I hope people enjoy it. This story is probably not for fans of the Order. It also features a quite dark Draco in later parts, and there is even an element of Dark Hermione – although it is very different from a Dark story as Hermione's loyalty is not with the dark. The story is rated M for some violence and some sex – both of which feature more heavily in later parts, but I wanted to keep the entire series at the same rating. This part has 10 chapters, and as I said it will be published weekly on a Wednesday evening. The story starts in seventh year – meaning some events have run differently from the original books, but they're explained as the story goes along. Enjoy and thanks for reading.**

* * *

"You know you can still come with us," Ron Weasley said to his best friend, Hermione Granger, as he shoveled another sausage into his mouth.

The pair were eating their breakfast in The Great Hall, alongside Ron's sister Ginny, and their other best friend, Harry Potter. In less than an hour, Harry, Ron and Ginny would be heading home for the Christmas holidays, whereas Hermione had opted to stay at school.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Ron," Ginny scolded her brother, sounding spookily like their mother, Molly.

Ron pulled a face at his sister, but didn't argue as he turned his attention back to Hermione. "Even if you don't have time to pack, I'm sure Dumbledore would let you pop back for some clothes."

"I'm sure he could," Hermione agreed. "But it won't be necessary, Ron. I've made my decision, and I'm staying here for the holidays."

"But we're really going to miss you," Ron pouted.

"Yeah, it'll be no fun without you," Ginny added. "Without you, I'm surrounded by boys."

Hermione knew for Ginny being surrounded by boys wasn't really a problem, except the fact the boys she would be surrounded by over the holidays would be her brothers. Harry was the only exception, and while Ginny quite fancied Harry, he was oblivious to the redheaded witch. For Harry his priority was Voldemort, and working with Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix to make sure he was defeated for good this time.

"We will miss you, Hermione," Harry said, smiling at his best friend.

"And I'll miss you guys," Hermione replied. "But I really want to stay at school this year. Our exams start just after Easter, and I want to be fully prepared."

"You could pass your exams now," Ron snorted. Hermione had aced her O.W.L.S in fifth year, and Ron had no doubt she would do the same with her N.E.W.T.S this year.

"I doubt it," Hermione chuckled. "We're likely to be tested on stuff we haven't even started to learn about yet."

"Bloody hell, I'm never going to pass these exams," Ron wailed. He knew he would have trouble remembering the stuff they'd already learnt over the last six and a half years, without adding even more magic to the mix.

"You'll be fine," Hermione said with a warm smile. In her opinion Ron was smarter than he gave himself credit for, he just needed a bit more confidence in himself.

"Yeah, don't stress yourself yet, Ron," Harry said. "Let's just enjoy the holidays."

"If we can," Ron replied seriously.

Everyone knew Ron was referring to Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Since his return to full strength at the end of their fourth year, Voldemort had been an ever growing presence in the wizarding world. Initially the Ministry had tried to deny he was even back, but they'd had to admit they were wrong when Voldemort launched an attack on the Ministry of Magic in broad daylight. That was over a year ago, and since then Death Eater attacks were a regular occurrence. It was just luck that they hadn't yet managed to infiltrate the Ministry and take over at Hogwarts.

"I refuse to have my holidays ruined by that monster," Harry announced forcefully. "I suggest we forget all about him, and concentrate on having fun."

"You all do that," Hermione said as the foursome got up from the table and slowly headed towards the doors. "And have a great holiday."

"You too," Ginny returned, pulling Hermione into a hug as they hit the front hallway. "Don't study too much. You have to have fun as well."

"I'm sure I'll squeeze in some fun," Hermione replied as out of the corner of the eye she spotted the Slytherins in their year emerging from the Great Hall.

Ron and Harry had also seen the Slytherins, and they moved Hermione and Ginny down the hallway so they wouldn't come into contact with the students from the rival house. However, that didn't stop Harry and Ron watching nosily as Draco Malfoy said goodbye to his friends, and went heading off up the main staircase.

"Is Malfoy stopping behind?" Ron asked with a frown as the Slytherins headed out of the front door towards the carriages that were starting to take people down to the train station.

"I don't know," Hermione replied, even though she knew full well the Head Boy was remaining at school for the holidays.

"Maybe you should come with us," Harry said thoughtfully. "I don't like the idea of you being stuck with Malfoy over the holidays."

"I share dorms with him every day, Harry," Hermione pointed out. She wished her friends wouldn't be so judgmental when it came to the Slytherins, Draco especially, but years of trying to get them to be more open minded had fallen on deaf ears. Harry and Ron hated Slytherins, and nothing she could say or do could change their minds.

"Yes, but everyone else is in the castle," Harry argued. "Practically everyone's leaving, so it'll be harder for you to find anyone if something happens."

"Nothing will happen," Hermione insisted with an exasperated sigh. "Honestly, you should really give Draco a chance. He's not that bad when you get to know him."

"I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him," Ron sneered. "Just be careful, Hermione. Malfoy and his family are bad news."

"I'll be careful," Hermione conceded, with a weak smile. "Shouldn't you three be going? You don't want to miss the train."

"No, we don't," Harry agreed as he checked his watch. Luckily their bags had already been transported down to the train, so they didn't have to go back up to Gryffindor Tower and risk getting left behind. "You be careful Hermione, and if you need us, just write. In fact if you need us, find one of the Professors in the Order and they can contact us."

"Just go and have fun," Hermione urged as she gave the three a hug. "Enjoy yourselves, and have a great Christmas."

With more goodbyes and best wishes exchanged, Harry, Ron and Ginny finally departed the school. Once she was sure her friends had gone, Hermione turned and headed up the stairs to the Head Dorms which were on the third floor. Entering the common room, she found Draco lying on one of the sofas, a book in his hand. The second she entered the room, he slid a bookmark in his book and placed it on the coffee table.

"All gone?" He asked.

"All gone," Hermione confirmed with a smile as she walked over to the sofa and let Draco pull her down on top of him. "There's just you and me for the rest of the holidays."

"Just the way I like it," Draco replied, pulling Hermione into a deep kiss. Smiling happily, Hermione melted into her secret boyfriend's embrace.

Initially the pair had become friends in fourth year when Draco had approached Hermione in the library and asked if they could put the past behind them. After years of listening to his father's beliefs on muggleborns, Draco had come to the conclusion that Lucius's views were wrong and muggleborns were just like any other wizard or witch. Hermione had been slightly hesitant about Draco's offer, but he quickly proved to her he was serious.

By the end of fourth year they were fairly good friends, and despite Voldemort returning at the end of that year they remained friends. In fifth year Draco became increasingly aware of Hermione in a romantic sense and by the middle of the year he was totally infatuated with his friend. Luckily for him, Hermione felt the same way and by then end of the year the pair were dating. The couple's relationship carried on throughout sixth year and they were both thrilled at the beginning of seventh year when they were named head students and given their own private accommodation.

The only problem in the pair's relationship was the presence of Lord Voldemort in the wizarding world. Draco's family had been well-known supporters of the Dark Lord when he'd been around the first time, and as a muggleborn Hermione was a natural enemy of Voldemort and his followers. Draco himself had promised Hermione he wanted nothing to do with the Death Eaters, but they both feared he'd be dragged into things because of his family. As an alternative, Hermione had suggested that Draco join The Order of the Phoenix.

Actually Draco had no major problem with the idea of joining the Order. He fully expected Hermione's best friend, Harry Potter and their headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, to defeat Voldemort and he had no objection to being on the winning side of a pointless war. He also wasn't that worried about his parents and their involvement with Voldemort. Lucius and Narcissa had been very crafty with The Dark Lord's return and on a whole they had remained neutral. Draco was in no doubt that if they Order won, his parents could claim to have done nothing to aid Voldemort, whereas if Voldemort won they would be more than happy to pledge allegiance to him.

Draco's only hesitation to agreeing to join the Order came from the fact he didn't think he'd be welcomed by them. Hermione's two best friends hated his guts, and while he'd given them reason to when they were younger he no longer bothered them and yet they still hated him. Draco knew the hatred partly stemmed from the fact he was in Slytherin, a house untrusted by most people, and the fact he was a Malfoy. Draco's family had a particular nasty history with the Weasleys, not to mention their previous associations with the dark. Then there was the fact that Dumbledore led the Order and he despised Draco. Draco knew for a fact the only reason he was Head Boy was because the four heads of house backed his appointment and Dumbledore was unwilling to go against his four most senior Professors.

However, despite his reservations Draco had come to the conclusion that he would be joining the Order. At the end of the day he didn't want to lose Hermione, and since she would be heavily involved with the Order once they left school it made sense for him to also join. Draco wasn't particularly happy with the idea of Hermione getting heavily involved in any fighting, he knew she was a capable witch that could look after herself, but it wouldn't hurt if he was close by just to ensure she was safe. When all this was over he had plans for the future, and they definitely included his girlfriend.

"I'm really looking forward to these holidays," Hermione muttered, breaking the kiss and settling herself beside Draco on the sofa.

"So am I," Draco replied, twirling a strand of his girlfriend's curly brown hair around his finger. "And I've made a decision."

"About?" Hermione asked warily. Considering the obstacles they'd overcome just to be together, Hermione didn't think Draco would be dumping her any time soon, but she was aware that her boyfriend's life would be much easier without her in it.

"The Order," Draco replied. "I'm going to join."

"That's fantastic," Hermione said, beaming at her boyfriend. "When do you want to do it?"

"I was thinking the end of the year," Draco answered. "Given how my parents are playing things, I don't think I'm in danger of being recruited into the Death Eaters before the end of the year. However, I don't suppose my parents will be pleased about my choice. Joining at the end of the year, means I can just bypass going home, and then there's nothing they can do about it. But if I join now, they might hear about it and Father will likely storm the school and kick up a fuss."

"I think waiting until the end of the year is perfect," Hermione agreed. "Plus it gives us plenty of time to work out what to tell people about us."

"How about the truth?" Draco suggested.

"I guess it's the only way to go," Hermione said with a sigh.

She knew telling the truth was the right way to go, but it would mean revealing to Harry and Ron that she'd been lying to them for over three years. Hopefully they would understand why she and Draco had kept their friendship and subsequent romance a secret, but something told her they wouldn't. More than likely the pair would kick off and cause trouble, which ironically was one of the reasons for keeping things under wraps in the first place.

"Don't worry about it now," Draco urged his girlfriend, noticing how preoccupied Hermione had become the second they'd started talking about informing her friends of the situation. "We don't need to deal with them until the end of the year. For now, let's just enjoy our holidays. I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to spending Christmas together."

"Me too," Hermione replied with a smile. "I've got a very special present for you to unwrap."

"Hmm, I hope you mean yourself," Draco said, smirking wickedly at his girlfriend. "Although, I could always practice the unwrapping now. As usual, you're wearing far too many clothes."

As things got heated with Draco, and they started to remove each other's clothes, Hermione forgot about her potential problems with her friends. Draco was right, she didn't need to worry about what was going to happen at the end of the year. She could deal with that when the time came, but right now, she was content to relax and enjoy her Christmas with Draco.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry's Christmas was spent surrounded by people he loved, and he soon forgot about his worries regarding Hermione being left alone with the Head Boy. In fact over the course of the first week of the holidays, he barely gave his best friend a second thought. The only time he really thought about her was on Christmas morning, when he opened her gift of a broomstick cleaning kit. Despite the war, he was still the Seeker on the Gryffindor team, and he often flew to help relieve the stresses of being the Boy Who Lived brought about.

Another reason Harry had forgotten about Hermione so easily was down to the company. Not only was he spending time with the Weasleys, a family he'd been welcomed into with open arms, but he was also spending time with his godfather, Sirius Black. Since meeting Sirius in his third year, Harry had embraced his godfather. Spending time with Sirius was like having a little piece of his parents with him, and he knew Sirius also drew comfort from spending time with him as he still grieved for his lost best friend and his wife. Over the years the pair had become particular close, and now Harry was seventeen and had left his home with the Dursleys, he resided with Sirius at the Order Headquarters, Twelve Grimmauld Place.

Harry and the Weasleys split their holidays between the Weasleys home down in Devon, and Sirius's house in London. Since Grimmauld Place was the Order's Headquarters, they encountered several members of the Order while they were there. Most people came and went without staying long, but Sirius's best friend, Remus Lupin often stayed overnight with his girlfriend, the young Auror, Nymphadora Tonks. Harry got on well with both Remus and Tonks, and the nights they stayed were invariably fun filled.

Harry's other fun filled activity over the Christmas break occurred on Boxing Day at The Burrow. The twins, Fred and George, had mischievously hung some mistletoe over the back door and Harry had unwittingly gotten caught under it with Ginny. Of course the twins had enchanted the mistletoe so that Harry and Ginny couldn't escape until they'd kissed. Before then, Harry had just viewed Ginny as Ron's little sister, but stuck under the mistletoe with her, he realised she was quite an attractive girl. The kiss was rather tentative and somewhat awkward, but it suddenly had Harry looking at Ginny in a different light. Suddenly she was more than Ron's little sister, she was an attractive witch, and Harry suspected he was developing a crush on her.

Harry had been unsure of how Ron would react to the news he fancied his little sister, so he kept quiet while he tried to decide about his feelings. However, on New Year's Eve, he decided to confide in Sirius about his problem. Sirius wasn't at all surprised by Harry's confession, and admitted he was surprised his godson hadn't approached him sooner regarding Ginny.

"But I've only just discovered I like her," Harry pointed out.

"Talk about slow," Sirius chuckled. "It's been building for a while now."

"It has?" Harry frowned in confusion.

"Yes, it has Harry," Sirius replied, smiling slightly at his godson's inexperience with girls and recognising his feelings for them. "And if you want my advice, talk to Ron, and then approach Ginny. It might be weird for Ron, but he's your best friend, he'll support you."

"I hope so," Harry murmured, but before he could say anything more a silver patronus belonging to Kingsley Shacklebolt burst into the kitchen where Harry and Sirius was sitting.

"Attack," Kingsley's patronus announced loudly, before giving the name of a small wizarding village and then vanishing into thin air.

"Damn it," Sirius cursed as he jumped to his feet. "That's the village where Tonks's parents live. She and Remus left to visit them half an hour ago."

"I want to come," Harry said as he also got to his feet. "Don't argue, I'm seventeen and I know how to fight."

Sirius looked at his godson before nodding his head. "Pass the message to Ron, and whoever else is upstairs. Meet me in the hallway in two minutes and we can leave."

Harry bolted up the stairs, and quickly filled Ron and Ginny in on what was happening as they were the only other people at Grimmauld Place. Much to Ginny's frustration, Sirius refused to allow her to accompany them when they headed back downstairs.

"Your mother will kill me if I turn up with you in tow," Sirius said. "It'll be bad enough that I'm allowing Ron to come."

"I'm seventeen, you can't stop me," Ron insisted.

"I'm not trying to," Sirius said. "We'll need all hands on deck if this is a bad attack. I'm sorry Ginny, you'll have to stay here."

"Fine," Ginny huffed, stalking off to the front room as Sirius told Harry and Ron to grab onto him and he apparated the three of them to where the action was.

The second they arrived in the village, the trio wasted no time in leaping into action. There was already a fully-fledged battled forming, and from the looks of things most of the Order had turned up to fight. It also looked as though there was a strong contingent of Death Eaters, and Harry was concerned that the witches and wizards in black outnumbered everyone else. However, outnumbered or not, the Order would fight and he was confident they would win.

Even though the war was getting more dangerous by the day, Harry still hadn't reached the point where he could kill, or even severely maim, his opposition, so he battled past Death Eaters using simple spells like disarming spells and stunning spells. Surprisingly the tactics had been serving Harry well, and he'd suffered no more than the odd cut in previous battles. Likewise this battle, he got the odd cut and scrape, but nothing to worry about. That was until he laid eyes on a tall, bald man not wearing a mask.

"Voldemort," he whispered to himself.

Even though Voldemort couldn't possibly have heard him, he turned to face Harry, a smirk on his thin, lips. "I hoped I would see you here," he hissed in his low, snake like voice as he pulled out his wand with a flourish.

"Here, I am," Harry said loudly. "Come and get me."

"With pleasure," Voldemort replied, before he pounced, firing spells rapidly at Harry.

Harry parried the spells and the pair found themselves engaged in a fierce battle. Harry was slightly surprised that the pair could duel one another, as normally their wands reacted strangely to each other as they were connected by their cores, but there was none of that as the pair went toe to toe. In fact Harry began to suspect that Voldemort was using a different wand to battle him, and he couldn't help but feel smug that he'd forced The Dark Lord to abandon his own wand.

Surprisingly, Harry seemed to get the upper hand over Voldemort as the older wizard began to struggle to control his wand, which practically confirmed Harry's theory that he was using an unfamiliar piece of wood. However, Harry was determined not to let Voldemort's troubles affect him and he kept going after the dark wizard. Of course he knew Voldemort couldn't be killed until they'd destroyed all his Horcruxes, which he and Dumbledore were well on the way to doing, but he could be hurt and Harry intended to hurt him. Not that Voldemort was prepared to let that happen, and as he let Harry get close to him he issued a chilling threat to the young boy who could potentially be his downfall.

"Just where I want you, Potter," Voldemort hissed. "Away from your mudblood."

"What did you say?" Harry faltered, his spell shooting over Voldemort's head as dread crept into his stomach.

"Pretty little thing, your mudblood," Voldemort continued. "I would keep an eye on her if I were you. I'm coming after her, and I'm going to get her."

The second Harry stumbled back in shock, Voldemort vanished in a puff of black smoke and seconds later his Death Eaters followed suite. Harry was still standing in shock when Sirius rushed over to him to check he was okay.

"Hermione," Harry whispered. "She's in danger."

"How do you know that?" Sirius asked with a frown.

Quickly Harry told his godfather what had happened with Voldemort. Like Harry, Sirius was concerned, but he managed to calm his godson down and persuade him not to rush off half cocked. Instead the pair remained in the village, checking the damage and helping those who'd been injured. However, once that was sorted, Sirius had a quiet word with Dumbledore and a select group gathered back at Grimmauld Place.

"Tell us exactly what happened," Dumbledore urged Harry once everyone was settled back at Grimmauld Place and Molly had sent Ginny home to The Burrow to help look after Percy, who'd had his arm broken in the skirmish.

Harry repeated what had happened, and by the time he was finished everyone was severely concerned about Hermione. Dumbledore quickly excused himself to check with McGonagall to ensure Hogwarts was safe and nothing untoward had occurred. Once they were sure Hermione was still safe up at school, a discussion got under way as to what was going to happen next.

"We have to protect her," Harry insisted. "Voldemort's got her in his sights, and I'd never forgive myself if anything happened to her."

"Which is probably why he's targeting her," Sirius mused. "Someone's told him just how much she means to you. Most likely Snape."

"Now is not the time to discuss Severus," Dumbledore said with a tut. He knew Severus Snape wasn't trusted by many of the Order, but he trusted him implicitly, but now wasn't the time for a debate on who's side the Potions Professor was really on. "I agree with Harry, we have to protect Miss Granger. I suggest speaking to her and removing her into protective custody. I'm sure we could find her a safe house. Tonks, you could provide security, couldn't you?"

"Of course," Tonks agreed with a nod. "But the fewer people who know what's going on, the more secure we can make it."

"I don't see any reason why we need to mention this to anyone outside this room," Dumbledore said. Currently in the room were himself, Harry and Ron, Sirius, Remus and Tonks and Molly and Arthur. Personally, he didn't think anyone else needed to be aware of the situation regarding Hermione.

Leaving Tonks, Remus and Arthur to find a safe house for Hermione, the others flooed to Hogwarts, landing in Dumbledore's office. Scribbling a note to Hermione, Dumbledore folded the parchment into a swan shape and used magic to send it to the Head Girl. They then settled down to wait for Hermione to arrive. Well everyone settled down apart from Harry, who was pacing up and down beside Ron.

Nearly fifteen minutes later there was a knock on the door and when Dumbledore shouted enter, Hermione made her appearance. It was clear she was puzzled by everyone sitting in the Headmaster's office as she slowly entered the room.

"What's going on?" Hermione asked nervously, glancing around at the sombre looking adults. "Is everyone okay?"

"Everyone's fine, Hermione," Molly reassured the young witch with a small smile.

"Then what's with the long faces?" Hermione pressed. It was obvious something was going on and she wanted to know what.

"Why don't you take a seat, Miss Granger?" Dumbledore suggested kindly.

Hermione took the spare seat located next to Ron and waited to hear what was going on. Behind her, Harry had stopped pacing but she could feel the nervous energy radiating off her friend.

"Harry, why don't you also sit down," Sirius stated firmly.

Harry sighed, but he did as his godfather asked and perched on the chair that was placed on the other side of Ron.

"Well?" Hermione looked around expectantly, waiting for an explanation to come.

"We have reason to believe you're in grave danger," Dumbledore said quietly. "We think Voldemort has set his sights on you."

"Does he even know who I am?" Hermione questioned.

"Yes, he knows who you are," Harry growled. "He made sure I knew that."

Hermione was just about to demand an explanation, when Dumbledore gave one to her, telling her all about what had occurred earlier that day.

"Clearly it was a scare tactic," Hermione announced after the tale was told. "It sounds like Harry was winning, and he threw a threat at him to distract him. Let's guess, after he mentioned me, Harry backed off and he disappeared."

"Yes, that's what happened," Harry admitted reluctantly. "But it doesn't change the fact he threatened you, Hermione," he insisted. "You're in danger."

"Aren't we all?" Hermione shrugged. "We're in the middle of a war. We're all in danger, all the time."

Truthfully she was rather perturbed by Voldemort's threat, but she was smart enough to realise it was most likely an idle threat. Given the situation at the time of the threat, she doubted it was a serious one. Voldemort clearly just wanted to rattle Harry and escape the fight they were in.

"Even so, I still think we need to take a personal threat from Voldemort seriously," Dumbledore said. "That's why we've made a decision. Miss Granger, we're going to take you into hiding and ensure Voldemort can't get to you."

"You're joking, right?" Hermione looked around the room, unable to believe what she was hearing.

"It's for your own safety, Hermione," Molly said.

"Look, I appreciate the offer, but I have to refuse," Hermione told the group as she stood up. "The threat was clearly made to rattle Harry, and I see no reason to overreact."

"Hermione, you can't just carry on as though nothing's happened," Harry shouted as he jumped up. "Your life is in danger, you need to be protected."

"I'm perfectly safe at Hogwarts," Hermione retorted. "And once school's over, I'll be with the Order until the end of the war. There's no reason to change anything, and I refuse to go into hiding. Besides, if Voldemort really does want me, going into hiding wouldn't change anything, he would just carry on searching for me. Now if you'll all excuse me, I have some studying to get back to."

Not giving anyone a chance to argue further, Hermione turned and left Dumbledore's office.

"Well that went well," Ron muttered, as everyone was left stunned at Hermione's abrupt departure.

"Bring her back," Harry hissed, turning to Dumbledore. "We'll force her to come with us."

"I don't think force is the answer here," Sirius said gently. "Hermione's right in some respects, she is pretty safe in Hogwarts. I suggest we be patient and try and persuade her to see sense."

"Harry and I can keep talking to her," Ron suggested.

"Make sure it is talking," Molly warned. "That girl is the most stubborn witch I've ever met. Ordering her to go in to hiding won't help. You need to be calm and get her to see reason. You need to use logic to get her to see we've got the right idea."

"In the meantime I can make sure her safe house is ready and waiting," Dumbledore said. "The second she agrees, we can take her into hiding."

"And she will agree," Harry vowed. "I'll make sure of it." He loved Hermione like a sister and he would do whatever it took to make sure Voldemort didn't get his hands on her, even if it meant angering Hermione in order to keep her safe.


	3. Chapter 3

As they'd planned, Draco and Hermione spent the majority of their Christmas holidays together in the head dorms. Apart from going down to the Great Hall to have Christmas lunch on Christmas Day, they rarely left the privacy of the head dorms. Even though there was only a handful of other students still at Hogwarts, they hadn't wanted to risk being seen out and about together. They had a plan for when the truth about their relationship was going to emerge, and they didn't want to ruin that plan by being outed by someone else. That meant they'd spent their time indoors, but neither of them had a problem with that.

The couple had been quite happy to spend so much time together, and they used it to talk about the future. Obviously their immediate future included fighting Voldemort, but Draco had been insistent that they needed to look beyond the war. He wanted them to have something to look forward to, so the couple discussed various things they wanted to do and places they wanted to explore.

Although the couple didn't spend all their time focusing on their relationship, they also spent a fair bit of time studying. Hermione had told her friends she was staying behind to study, and while Draco was her main reason for staying behind, she did mean it when she said she wanted to study. Her exams were very important to her, and she wanted to make sure she did as well as she could so that in the future, once Voldemort was gone, she had plenty of options for a career. Draco was just as keen to study and do well in his exams, not just because he liked to succeed, but because he wasn't sure what his future would hold. At the moment he was heir to a fortune, including a well-established family business, but Draco was well aware that once he pledged his allegiance to the Order, he might lose everything. He might need his exam results to ensure a good job for himself once Voldemort had been defeated.

On New Year's Eve, Draco and Hermione had spent most of the morning and part of the afternoon studying. However, mid-way through the afternoon Draco had decided they'd studied enough and he convinced Hermione to put the books down for the rest of the year. He wanted to spend a few hours with his girlfriend before they prepared to see in the New Year together.

"We could always go down to the party in the Great Hall," Hermione suggested as they packed up. Earlier that morning Professor McGonagall had poked her head into the head dorms to let them know the staff were organising a New Year party for those students at school, and from eight onwards there would be drinks and food in the Great Hall.

"And spend the evening making small talk and avoiding looking too cosy? I don't think so," Draco replied with a dismissive snort.

"We could head up to the astronomy tower," Hermione said. "Hogsmeade puts on a firework display at midnight."

"Yeah, I can remember watching it in fourth year," Draco said with a nod. "Now that sounds quite nice. I just hope no-one else has the same idea."

"Chances are everyone else will just go outside to watch the fireworks," Hermione said. "So we've decided, an evening up in the astronomy tower."

"Yeah, we can head up later, but for now, I'm sure we can find some other way to occupy our time."

"I'm sure we can," Hermione said with a cat like smile as she walked into her boyfriend's arms.

Ten minutes later the couple were well and truly occupied, rolling around naked in Draco's bed. The couple spent several hours making love, before collapsing in an exhausted heap. However, they were both young and fit and it didn't take them long to recover and start planning their evening.

"I think first of all I need a nice long, relaxing soak in the bath," Hermione said as she stretched her aching limbs.

"Sounds like fun," Draco said, his gaze never leaving Hermione's naked body as she lay sprawled over his green bed covers.

"It's supposed to be relaxing," Hermione countered with a chuckle.

"I can do relaxing," Draco argued.

Before either of them had a chance to say more an origami swan fluttered in through the bedroom door and floated around their heads. Draco grabbed the swan from the air and opened up the note.

"It's for you," he said, handing the note to Hermione.

Hermione sat up as she read the note from Dumbledore. It was just a few lines, asking to see her in his office immediately. Most likely it was something to do with head duties. Since the beginning of the year Dumbledore had pretty much dealt with Hermione and asked her to pass the message along to Draco. While Hermione thought it was incredibly rude and wasn't impressed with Dumbledore, Draco wasn't the slightest bit bothered. The less he had to do with Dumbledore the better as far as he was concerned, he was more than happy for Hermione to deal with the Headmaster and just keep him up to date with what was going on.

"I better go and see what Dumbledore wants," Hermione sighed as she got up and hastily pulled her clothes on. "Why don't you get started on running that bath?"

"Okay," Draco replied, giving his girlfriend a quick kiss as she headed off to see what Dumbledore wanted.

Not bothering with clothes, Draco strolled into the bathroom and began preparing a nice, hot bubble bath for when his girlfriend returned. The tub in the head dorms was almost as large as the one in the prefect's bathroom, and it took an eternity to fill so the bath had only just finished running when Hermione returned to the head dorms.

"What did Dumbledore want?" he asked when Hermione entered his bedroom.

"He was just checking our patrol schedules were all done for the upcoming term," Hermione lied.

Hermione had been thinking about what to tell Draco on her way back from the headmaster's office and she'd decided a white lie was the best option. She felt bad for lying to her boyfriend, but she didn't want Draco to worry about her. She really did appreciate the concern people were showing towards her, but she did think they were overreacting, and telling Draco what was going on wouldn't help anything. Hopefully in a few days her friends could look at things with a clear head and see she was right and Voldemort had just been taunting Harry in the heat of battle. There was absolutely no reason that she should be in hiding, and there was no way she was going to agree to it. She would just be more careful when she was outside of Hogwarts grounds. There was also no reason she would going to worry Draco over something that wasn't even a real threat. When she was with her boyfriend she would rather just be able to relax and enjoy their time together, not worry about what Voldemort might be planning.

"Well now you've dealt with Dumbledore, how about getting on with our bath," Draco suggested. "It's all waiting for us."

"Sounds perfect," Hermione replied as she began to strip off her clothes.

Heading into the bathroom, the couple settled down in the large bubble filled tub. After a long leisurely bath, which was very relaxing and for once didn't take a naughty turn, the couple got dressed and grabbed a quick bite to eat. They then headed up to the Astronomy Tower to watch the fireworks from Hogsmeade and see in the New Year together. Little did they know the year they were ushering in would be the start of the worst period of their lives.

* * *

A few days after New Year it was time for the students to return to school. Hermione was nervous about Harry and Ron's return, and she just hoped that in the few days since she'd last seen her friends that they'd seen sense and realised that Voldemort was just playing with Harry. She was in no more danger than anyone else.

Before everyone arrived back, Hermione and Draco had already agreed to spend the evening with their friends. Draco was planning on heading down to the dungeons to catch up with his friends, so Hermione could either go up to Gryffindor Tower, or invite Harry and Ron back to the head dorms. Until she saw them Hermione wasn't sure which option she was going for, she just hoped they weren't been so stubborn that she ended up going back to her room alone and not spending time with them.

Hermione was already settled at the Gryffindor table when her friends entered the room. Ginny was the first to enter, and she rushed over to Hermione and threw her arms around her.

"You never guess what," Ginny gushed. "Harry kissed me. We were caught under some mistletoe and we kissed, and now I think he likes me."

"That's great Gin," Hermione replied, spotting Harry and Ron entering the room. "We'll have to have a proper catch up one evening, just us girls."

"It's a date," Ginny said as she slid into her seat as Ron and Harry arrived.

"Hello," Hermione said cautiously, unsure of what sort of mood she would find her friends in.

"Hi, 'Mione," Ron greeted, giving Hermione a quick hug.

Hermione flinched at Ron's nickname for her, but she didn't say anything as she was just glad he seemed normal. However, Harry had been the most concerned of the pair last time she'd seen them and she was more nervous about how he was going to react.

"Hello, Hermione," Harry said with a tight smile. "Did you have a nice holiday?"

"I did," Hermione confirmed with a nod. "Did you?"

"It was okay," Harry replied as they all took their seats.

"It was bloody great up until New Year's Eve," Ron grumbled.

"Oh the attack," Ginny gasped. "I wasn't allowed to go Hermione, but I heard it was horrible. Death Eaters attacked the village where Tonks's parents live."

"Was everyone okay?" Hermione checked. Even though she'd been informed of the attack, it was just occurring to her that there'd been no mention of how everyone had fared, they'd all been far too concerned with trying to protect Hermione from an idle threat.

"An elderly couple from the village died," Harry answered. "And we had a few injuries in the Order, but no fatalities."

"These attacks are just getting worse," Hermione said with a sigh. "I just wish we were nearer to stopping him."

"Dumbledore reckons we're getting close," Harry said, not wanting to say too much in front of Ginny. Both Hermione and Ron were aware of Voldemort's Horcruxes, as were the main group of the Order, but Ginny knew nothing about any details and since she wasn't old enough to join the Order, Harry didn't want her knowing anything in case she accidentally let something slip.

"How close?" Ron asked. He knew Dumbledore was tracking down Horcruxes and destroying them, but he had no idea if there were many more to go or not.

"It's hard to say," Harry replied with a shrug. "Dumbledore just needs to do a couple more things before we start discussing the final confrontation with Voldemort, but time wise it could be anything between a few weeks and several years."

"Let's hope it's the weeks," Ron remarked as they fell silent as Dumbledore got to his feet and welcomed everyone back from the Christmas holidays.

Once Dumbledore had finished talking, the feast appeared on the table and as they ate the topic of the war was well and truly dropped. Instead the teenagers discussed their various holidays and what they'd received from Christmas. Unsurprisingly the topic also managed to get around to quidditch, which was sort of inevitable when Harry was captain and both Ron and Ginny were vital members of the team. Luckily the quidditch talk didn't last long, and by the time they got to their feet to leave, conversation had drifted onto school and what lay ahead for them in the coming term.

"I can't stay," Ginny said as they exited the Great Hall and she waved at Luna Lovegood, who was hovering beside the staircase. "I've promised to catch up with Luna."

"Give her our love," Hermione called as Ginny headed over to Luna and the two sixth years went wandering off to catch up. "Where to?" she asked Harry and Ron. "Draco said he was going down to the dungeons after dinner, so the head dorms are free."

"Let's go the head dorms," Harry suggested. "They're more private."

"As long as you don't start nagging me," Hermione remarked as she led the way to the head dorms.

Unfortunately for Hermione the topic of Voldemort's threat didn't stay out of the conversation for long. Initially it looked as though neither Harry nor Ron were going to mention it as they chatted about school. Even when they first turned the conversation back to the war, and the attack that had taken place over Christmas, Hermione was hopeful Voldemort's threat wouldn't be brought up, but her hope soon died when Harry repeated exactly what had happened between himself and The Dark Lord.

"I agree Harry, it's scary," Hermione conceded. "But I honestly don't think we can take it seriously. You clearly had him at a disadvantage and he was buying himself some time."

"Why would he need to buy time?" Harry demanded. "Until Dumbledore can destroy his Horcruxes he's bloody immortal. He knew I couldn't kill him, the worst I could have managed was to hurt him a bit."

"Maybe he didn't want to be hurt," Hermione argued. "Maybe he was worried about what that would do psychologically to both the Order and his followers. You have to admit, it would cause panic amongst the Death Eaters if they knew you'd hurt their precious leader. And the Order would be psyched up that you'd hurt him. Something like that could turn the tide of the war, and he clearly wasn't taking any chances of that happening."

"It was more than that, Hermione," Harry said with a stubborn shake of his head as he collapsed onto one of the sofas. "He was gloating before we even started to fight. He wanted me there, because he wanted to pass this message onto me. And he wanted to do it personally. How many battles have you known him show up to?"

"I've never seen him in battle before," Hermione admitted.

"Nor have I," Ron added. "Although to be fair, we haven't exactly been at many battles."

"Even so, we've never faced him before in a general skirmish like that one," Harry pointed out. "He was there for a reason, and that reason was Hermione."

"Look, I appreciate that you're worried about me, but I don't think we should overreact," Hermione said. "I'm perfectly safe in school. If he could get into school, he would have done so before now. I'm safe here, and then I'll be with the Order at the end of the year anyway. I'm not going to run away because of one little threat. I won't be swayed on this, so you're wasting your breath trying to convince me otherwise."

Hermione watched as Harry and Ron exchanged resigned looks. She was guessing they'd realised there was no point arguing with her once she'd made her mind up. But the real question was, how long would they stop arguing with her for? She knew her two best friends were stubborn and they wouldn't give up if they thought they were right, but neither would she. Someone would end up losing this battle, and Hermione knew it wouldn't be her. She just hoped that Harry and Ron got the message sooner rather than later and their stubbornness didn't start affecting their friendship.


	4. Chapter 4

Much to Hermione's relief, Harry and Ron didn't mention her going into hiding after that first night back at Hogwarts. However, they were more attentive than normal. Between breakfast and the last lesson of the day, she rarely had a moment's peace. Even when she was heading to a class the boys didn't take, one of them would walk her there. They'd even taken to spending a few hours in the library with her, or in the head dorms as she studied.

Fortunately, Draco hadn't picked up on the fact that Harry and Ron were around more often. Even though the couple shared dorms, they'd made an effort not to spend every second in each other's pockets. They both still spent time with their friends, and still had time for each other. Besides, the last thing either of them wanted was someone to get suspicious about the amount of time they were spending together, not when they had a perfect plan for how to get Draco safely to the Order at the end of the year.

As grateful as Hermione was that Draco hadn't picked up on Harry and Ron's behaviour, and as flattered as she was that her friends were so worried about her, after a couple of weeks she was starting to become frustrated with Harry and Ron constantly hanging around her. What they thought was going to happen to her in school was a mystery to Hermione. Although knowing those two, it would be something to do with the Slytherins.

After a few weeks of having her friends at her side constantly, Hermione was desperate for a way to get some peace from Harry and Ron. Fortunately Ron provided her with the perfect answer as they were hanging out in the head dorms and he asked about Draco.

"He just never seems to be around these days," Ron said. "Which is a good thing by the way," he added with a grin. "The less time he spends around you the better."

"I keep telling you, he's not that bad," Hermione replied through gritted teeth.

"You know your problem, Hermione, you're too soft," Ron said, not in the slightest bit swayed by Hermione's protestations regarding the blond Slytherin. "So where is Malfoy these days?"

"Quidditch practice," Hermione answered deviously. She knew Draco wasn't always practising when he wasn't in the dorms, but she did know the Slytherin team had held a few extra practices since the start of the New Year. "He's determined to make sure Slytherin win the cup this year."

"Is he holding extra practices?" Harry asked in concern. Gryffindor hadn't played Slytherin yet, but he'd been pretty impressed with their rivals in their first game and he didn't like the thought of them having more practice than his team.

"As many as he can," Hermione replied. "As I say, he's determined to leave Hogwarts on a high."

"We'll see about that," Harry muttered. "First thing tomorrow, I'm going to go and see Madam Hooch and book in as much extra time on the pitch as possible. I'm not going to let Slytherin beat us in our final year."

Hermione smiled happily to herself as her two best friends reacted exactly as she thought they would. The thought of Slytherin beating them in quidditch was enough to force them into action, and now they'd be partaking in extra practices, giving her a bit more peace and quiet.

Sure enough Hermione's plan worked wonders and with Harry and Ron focused on quidditch, she had more time to herself. She was hoping that the distraction would be enough so that they forgot all about their plan to try and persuade her to go into hiding. It would also hopefully distract them enough so they didn't feel the need to guard her all the time when she was perfectly safe in school.

Unfortunately for Hermione, her peace barely lasted a month. One evening over dinner, when Harry and Ron were telling her about how great the extra quidditch practices were going, they suddenly noticed something going on at the Professors table. Dumbledore was looking at his wand in concern, before he spoke to several members of staff and a whole bunch of them got up and left the Great Hall, leaving McGonagall in charge of the students and the small handful of staff that had remained behind.

"What's going on?" Ginny asked from where she was sitting next to Harry. Even though the pair still weren't officially a couple, they'd been getting closer and everyone knew it was just a matter of time before they announced they were together.

"I don't know," Harry muttered. "But I don't think it's good."

The Gryffindors weren't the only students wondering what was going on, and the noise soon rocketed in the Great Hall as theories bounced back and forth as to why the Professors had staged a mass exodus. Of course most people hit on Death Eater attacks, which led to people panicking that they were in danger and the Professors had gone to try and protect them.

"Quiet down!" McGonagall bellowed when the noise started to reach fever pitch. McGonagall had a way of making the students pay attention to her and silence soon reigned in the Great Hall. "There is no need for all this fuss. You are all perfectly safe. Professor Dumbledore and some of the other staff have left to deal with a slight situation, which is nowhere near Hogwarts. Now finish your meal in peace, and go about your business as normal."

"This looks bad," Harry muttered as the students began to chatter amongst themselves, only much quieter. "Have you seen how many staff Dumbledore took with him? McGonagall's practically alone up there."

"She's got Trelawney and Slughorn with her," Hermione replied. "Plus Filch will still be around, not to mention Professor Binns."

"But everyone else is gone," Harry pointed out. "That's a hell of a lot of muscle. Whatever is going on, it's big."

"I'm sure we'll find out eventually," Hermione said with a shrug as she returned to her dessert.

After dinner there was still no sign of the Professors returning, and Harry and Ron insisted on staying with Hermione until they knew what was going on. Not sure what Draco had been planning on doing with his evening, and not wanting her boyfriend to question why Harry and Ron were being so protective, Hermione agreed to accompany the boys back to Gryffindor Tower.

Settling in Gryffindor Tower, Hermione sat down beside the fire to chat with Ginny, while Harry and Ron played some exploding snap with the other boys in their year. Despite everything seemingly carrying on as normal, there was a tense atmosphere in the common room. Everyone was on edge with the mass exodus of Professors, and Hermione suspected there'd be a few sleepless nights for some of the students as they worried what could be going on outside of the castle.

"I think it's time I called it a night," Hermione said after a few hours. It was getting late, and if she didn't get back to the head dorms soon, Draco would start to worry. Not to mention they wouldn't get a chance to spend any time together before bed.

"We'll walk you back to the head dorms," Harry volunteered as he and Ron jumped to their feet.

"It's really not necessary," Hermione said as she said goodnight to Ginny and made her way towards the exit. "I can get back to the head dorms by myself."

"We insist," Ron said firmly.

Knowing it was easier to just agree, Hermione nodded her head and allowed the pair to follow her from Gryffindor Tower. However, the trio had barely exited the tower when they ran into Professor Dumbledore. The Headmaster was looking particularly sombre, and before Harry could ask how things were he asked to speak to the trio in private. Exchanging worried looks, the three teenagers followed Dumbledore back to his office.

"Is it bad?" Harry asked nervously as they took seats in front of the Headmaster's desk.

"No-one we know was killed or injured," Dumbledore reassured the trio. "The Death Eaters launched a massive attack on a muggle village. They wiped out most of the village, both the buildings and the people. We arrived in time to help drive the remaining Death Eaters out of the remains of the village. The Ministry are working with the muggle government to come up with a cover story."

"That's so awful," Hermione said. "But why are you telling us about this? Surely it'll be reported in the papers."

"I'm sure it will," Dumbledore agreed. "But I'm telling you, because the village the Death Eaters attacked is a few miles from your home, Hermione."

"Were Hermione's parents hurt?" Ron asked while Harry ground his teeth beside him.

"Not that we know of," Dumbledore said. "We did try and get in touch with them, but the house was empty."

"They're in Canada visiting my Aunt," Hermione explained. "They went over for Christmas, but then my Aunt had a fall and they stayed on to look after her. They're due back next week."

"That's a relief," Dumbledore admitted with a sigh.

"This was deliberate, wasn't it?" Harry demanded. "The Death Eaters deliberately targeted the village near to where Hermione's parents live, didn't they?"

"It's a possibility," Dumbledore admitted. "They might have been hoping to draw the Grangers out. A few muggles from outside the village were involved in the skirmish when they turned up to see what was going on and if they could help."

"It seems a bit far-fetched to me," Hermione said, pre-empting any arguments her best friend was going to make. "If the Death Eaters know where my parents live, why not target them directly? Targeting a nearby village makes no sense. I think this is just a sad coincidence."

"Normally I would agree, but in the light of Voldemort's recent threat, I think Harry could be right," Dumbledore said. "I strongly urge you to reconsider your view on going into hiding, Hermione. And if you're worried about your parents, we can reach them the second they come home and protect them as well."

"I am not going to disrupt my parent's lives, because of one throw away comment that was designed to shake Harry," Hermione insisted. "My parents are fine as they are, as am I."

"No, you're not," Harry shouted, jumping to his feet and knocking the chair over he'd been sitting on. "Stop being stubborn Hermione, and face facts. Voldemort is after you, and sticking your head in the sand isn't helping anyone. Just let us protect you. Please."

"I appreciate your concern, but I won't let that monster control my life," Hermione argued. "I won't hide away."

"So you're willing to risk your life?" Ron questioned in bewilderment. "Are you crazy?"

"No, I just won't let one throw away remark define my life," Hermione protested. "Harry's never hid away, and his life has been in danger for years. Hiding isn't the answer. Fighting and making sure the world is rid of Voldemort is the way to go."

Rising to her feet, Hermione thanked Dumbledore for keeping her up to date before she turned and stalked out of the Headmaster's office, leaving a fuming Harry and a bemused Ron behind her. Hermione quickly made it to the head dorms, and when she entered the common room she was relieved to see Draco waiting for her.

"Finally, I was getting worried," Draco remarked. "Where have you been?"

"I was with Harry and Ron in Gryffindor Tower," Hermione replied. "And then Dumbledore wanted to talk to me."

"Dumbledore's back?" Draco questioned. "Do you know what happened?"

"The Death Eaters attacked a muggle village," Hermione answered as she joined Draco on the sofa. "The village was near to where my parents live, so he just wanted me to know what was going on."

"Your parents weren't hurt, were they?" Draco checked. "Are they even home yet?"

"No, they're still away," Hermione replied. "But it was a bit close to home."

"I bet it was," Draco said, wrapping his arm around Hermione. "I get worried every time I hears there's an attack in case my parents were nearby."

"Are you still worried they'll be pulled into things?" Hermione asked as she snuggled up beside her boyfriend. Despite Lucius and Narcissa maintaining a neutral stance when it came to Voldemort, she knew Draco was worried that one day they'd be forced to serve The Dark Lord.

"There's only so long their stance will work," Draco said with a sigh. "To be honest, I'm surprised it's worked for this long."

"As long as it holds until the end of the year," Hermione remarked. "What do you think your parents will do when you join the Order?"

"Honestly, I have no idea," Draco admitted with a shrug. "I know Father would rather be supporting The Dark Lord, but he's wary of attaching himself to a losing cause again. I think at the end of the day, my parents will do what's best for them, and if I join the Order, it could very well bring them to the light. As long as we all survive, that's all that really matters to my parents."

While Hermione and Draco were discussing their situation and what could possibly happen with Draco's parents, Ron and Harry were still with Dumbledore, discussing their best friend. After the recent attack, Harry was more determined than ever to make sure Hermione went into hiding, and he made it clear to Dumbledore and Ron that he would do whatever it took to protect his best friend.


	5. Chapter 5

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather I stayed behind?" Draco asked his girlfriend, looking longingly at Hermione as she lay snuggled in his bed.

"That would be fun," Hermione replied, sitting up and making sure to pull the sheets with her so Draco didn't get totally distracted by her naked body. "But you promised your friends you would join them in Hogsmeade today."

"I could always cancel," Draco retorted, sitting back down on his bed and sneaking one of his hands under the covers. "I could say I'm feeling under the weather and need to spend the day in bed."

As Draco's hand ran teasingly over her thigh, Hermione was tempted to let him cancel on his friends so the pair could spend the day together, but then she remembered Harry and Ron. It had been a few weeks since the attack on the village near to where her parents lived, and in that time the pair had become even more protective of her than normal. Harry was even back to trying to persuade her to go into hiding, something she refused to even discuss. However, when the Hogsmeade trip was mentioned both Harry and Ron expressed the view they should stay up at school, where it was safe. Hermione had agreed on the condition they used the time to study for their exams, so she was expecting her friends to arrive shortly after Draco left for the day.

"Sorry," Hermione said, removing Draco's hand and giving her boyfriend a quick kiss. "I've made plans with Harry and Ron. You go and enjoy your day, and we can spend some time together when you return this evening."

"Damn Potter and Weasley, spoiling my plans," Draco muttered light-heartedly as he slowly got to his feet and grabbed a jacket from the wardrobe.

"I'll be here when you get back," Hermione said with a chuckle as Draco gave her another kiss.

"Is there anything you want bringing back?" Draco checked, before he headed off to go and meet up with his friends.

"If Honeydukes have any of those gorgeous summer fruit chocolates, you can bring me a small box," Hermione replied. "But other than that, just bring yourself back, rested and ready for an exhausting evening."

"Will do," Draco promised as he left the bedroom before Hermione got out of bed and he got totally distracted.

Heading downstairs, Draco found his friends exiting the Great Hall. He'd deliberately arranged for them to meet up after breakfast, so that he could spend an extra hour in bed with Hermione. However, it did mean he hadn't yet ate so he nabbed a slice of toast from Vincent Crabbe, as both he and Gregory Goyle still had a few slices in their hands.

"Hey," Vince protested. "I was going to eat that."

"Well now I'm eating it," Draco replied with a shrug.

"Don't they have food in the head dorms?" Theo Nott asked with a laugh.

"Yeah, but instead of getting up and getting breakfast, I had an extra hour in bed," Draco said.

"Hmm, an extra hour in bed sounds pretty nice," Blaise Zabini said with a grin. "Especially if you're not alone."

"Yeah, well I wouldn't know anything about that," Draco said hastily. He suspected both Theo and Blaise had their suspicions about the fact he was seeing someone, but he didn't want them to hit on the fact he was with Hermione before he got the chance to join the Order. "So are we going down to Hogsmeade or not?"

"Sure," Theo replied, sharing a knowing look with Blaise. "Let's get going. I said we would meet the girls for lunch."

"Fine," Draco answered. The girls were the Slytherin witches in their year, including Theo's girlfriend, Daphne Greengrass.

Just like normal the five boys fell into their usual banter as they headed down to Hogsmeade for the day. Hanging out with his friends, Draco could almost forget about things with Voldemort. Even though all his friends, apart from Blaise, had family connections with the dark, he knew they were just as reluctant to get involved in things as he was. Unfortunately Greg and Vince wouldn't have a choice about getting involved as their father's hadn't been smart enough to remain neutral like Draco's parents. However, Theo's father was also remaining neutral so Draco was hopeful that he wouldn't be dragged into things. Although with any luck the Order would defeat Voldemort before any of his friends got involved with the dark wizard.

With the weather getting nicer, the boys strolled down to the village, taking their time as they then began to meander around the shops. In Honeydukes, Draco picked up a box of the chocolates Hermione had asked for, as well as a new box of dessert based chocolates. He also picked up a few things in the quidditch store, as well as buying a couple of new books in the book store.

"It's time for lunch," Theo announced as he checked his watch. "Is The Three Broomsticks okay with everyone?"

"Perfect," Blaise said with a grin. "I can continue my seduction of Rosmerta."

"Give it up Blaise, it's never going to happen," Draco chuckled. Blaise had been flirting with the landlady of the village pub since they started visiting the village in third year, but for the last few months he'd been convinced the older witch was starting to fall for his charms. In fact, Blaise was determined to have a night of debauchery with Rosmerta before he graduated Hogwarts.

"It'll happen," Blaise said with confidence. "I'll get the drinks, you lot sit down so you don't cramp my style."

Looking around the pub, and finding no sign of the girls yet, the others settled down at one of the larger tables while Blaise went to the bar. Blaise was still up at the bar, flirting outrageously with Rosmerta, when the girls arrived. Settling down, the girls waited for Blaise to return with the boys drinks before sending him back to get drinks for them.

"Blaise will love you lot," Theo chuckled. "He loves an excuse to head back to the bar."

"He should just give up," Pansy Parkinson sneered. "As if someone like Rosmerta is going to look twice at him."

"I don't know, Blaise is rather cute," Daphne said with a sly smile. "Not to mention charming."

"Hey," Theo pouted. "Am I not cute and charming?"

"Of course you are," Daphne replied, leaning over and connecting her lips with Theo's.

"I don't think cute and charming is going to work on someone as sophisticated as Rosmerta," Pansy pointed out, ignoring Theo and Daphne and the fact they were now locked in a steamy embrace.

"Just leave him be," Draco said with a chuckle. "Blaise is happy with his delusions. Let him think he's working his charm on Rosmerta."

A few minutes later, Blaise returned with drinks for the girls. As he settled down beside Draco, he began regaling the group of the progress he was making as far as Rosmerta was concerned. The group of Slytherins humoured Blaise as they decided what they wanted to eat and sent him back to the bar with the order.

Blaise had only just returned after placing the order when a loud explosion rocked the pub. It felt like the pub actually shook and several people grabbed onto the tables to keep themselves on their feet. The explosion was immediately followed by loud screams and shouts coming from outside, and well as panic ensuing from the pub itself.

"What the hell is going on?" Tracey Davis asked nervously as the Slytherins recovered from the small quake that had rocked the pub.

"There's only one way to find out," Draco said cautiously as he peered towards the windows. Unfortunately, he couldn't see anything to indicate what the fuss was about.

"You want us to go outside?" Pansy asked in disbelief.

"Not really," Draco replied. "But we want to know what's going on, don't we?"

Before anyone had a chance to answer, the doors to the pub flew open and several students ran in screaming.

"Death Eaters!" Michael Corner cried.

"Holy hell," Blaise gasped. "What do we do?"

"Get back to school without getting involved," Draco replied as yet more students fled into the pub.

While Rosmerta and a lot of the other adults in the pub went running out of the front doors in order to help, Draco and the Slytherins headed for the back of The Three Broomsticks. However, just as they were about to head out of the back door, it flew open, hitting Pansy squarely in the face.

"Pans." Draco was at Pansy's side in an instant, helping his friend to her feet. As he did so, a couple of Death Eaters swept into the pub, shutting the door behind them and sealing it up using magic.

"You lot, get back into the bar," One of the Death Eaters snapped, waving his wand at the Slytherins.

"What do we do?" Daphne asked, holding onto Theo.

"We do as they say," Theo said quietly.

Draco kept hold of Pansy as the group made their way back into the bar. Blood was pouring from her head, but until he could get a batter look at his friend, he didn't know what the damage was. As the teenagers moved back into the bar, one of the Death Eater followed them, while the other one stood guarding the back exit. When they got back to the bar, the Slytherins huddled themselves in a corner as the Death Eater strode over to the front doors and slammed them shut. Unfortunately, because most of the adults had ran outside to help the bar was full of students who'd either been in the pub, or had ran in for shelter.

"We're all going to stay here, and if everyone behaves, no-one gets hurt," the Death Eater announced.

"Does anyone know who either of the Death Eaters are?" Blaise whispered as all over the pub other groups of students sat huddled together in fear for their lives.

"No clue," Draco answered, before he turned to Pansy and checked her out. Luckily the door had just knocked her nose, and while Draco suspected it was broken, he managed to stem the bleeding. "We can get Madam Pomfrey to check you out when we get back to school," he whispered as he pulled a shaking Pansy into his arms.

For a long time the group sat wondering what exactly was going on. They could hear noise coming from outside that indicated a battle was raging in the small wizarding village, but their captors were saying nothing. The two Death Eaters silently guarded the doors, keeping their eyes open for any possibly trouble.

"Do you think there's another way out of here?" Draco whispered to the others.

"I've only ever seen the two exits," Theo said. "I guess you could try climbing out one of the windows."

"One of the ones from upstairs would be perfect," Blaise said. "There's a shelter round the back of the pub for the smokers, and there's a window directly above it. You could climb out of the window onto the top of the shelter, and then down from the shelter."

"Are you volunteering Blaise?" Theo asked.

"No, I'll go," Draco whispered. "We need to be sure help is on the way. You lot create a distraction and I can sneak upstairs and hopefully escape."

A quick conversation took place regarding what sort of distraction Draco's friends could provide. When it was decided, Blaise stood up and casually set off walking towards the bathrooms. As expected the Death Eater guarding the front entrance stopped Blaise and demanded to know where he was going. While Blaise and the Death Eater got into an argument about Blaise needing to use the bathroom, Draco slipped away from his friends and snuck around the back of the bar. Keeping an ear out to check Blaise's ruse was still distracting the Death Eater, Draco crept out of the door that connected the bar with the private living quarters of the landlady, Rosmerta.

As soon as he was out of sight of the bar, Draco found the stairs and quietly raced up them. It took him a few minutes to find the window Blaise had mentioned, but he finally located it. When he did, he quickly pushed it open and crawled out onto the ledge. It was then a small drop to the top of the shelter and then another small drop to the floor behind the bar.

With his mind firmly on his friends, Draco pulled out his wand and carefully snuck out of the pub's backyard. As he manoeuvred his way around the pub, he got a shock when he spotted Zonko's was on fire. Several other shops and buildings looked to be damaged, and in the midst of it all robed Death Eaters were battling Professors and members of the Order. Draco couldn't see any other students in the streets, and he wondered if the ones not trapped in the pub had managed to get back to Hogwarts.

Standing in the shadows of the pub, Draco wondered what to do next. Going back to Hogwarts seemed pointless because most of the staff seemed to already be down in the village, but he needed to alert someone that there was a large group of students trapped in the pub. From the looks of things, no-one knew what was going on in the pub, or if they did they were making no attempt to get the students to safety. While it may have been dangerous out in the open with the battle going on, it was just as dangerous inside with two Death Eaters.

Draco had just spotted McGonagall being thrown into an alley and was about to try and sneak round to her when a fireball suddenly came flying towards the pub. The ball struck the wooden front doors of the pub and as they burst into flames, several more fireballs went flying through the windows. Hearing the screaming students inside, Draco hastily looked around for a window. Spotting one just above his head, he summoned a crate from the back yard, climbed up on it and smashed the window. He then crawled back into the fiery pub to try and save as many people as he could, including his friends.


	6. Chapter 6

After Draco had left for the day, Hermione grabbed a quick shower and got dressed. She then headed downstairs and grabbed some breakfast before Harry and Ron arrived. Just as she was finishing off her cereal, there was a knock on the door so she just shouted for her friends to enter. Since she was inside the room, no password was necessary so Harry and Ron could just walk in with her permission.

"Are we early?" Harry checked when he spotted the nearly empty bowl in his friend's hand.

"No, I was just late getting up," Hermione replied as she headed into the small kitchen alcove and deposited her bowl in the sink. Returning to the common room, she frowned when she spotted both Harry and Ron were empty handed. "No books?" she enquired.

"We didn't take them down to breakfast," Ron replied. "We called for you before we went to get them, we thought we could go study outside."

"Sounds like a plan," Hermione replied with a nod. With Easter approaching the spring weather was kicking in so a morning outside actually sounded quite nice. "Let me go get my bag and throw on a cardigan."

Five minutes later, Hermione had her school bag and she'd thrown on a purple and cream cardigan. Ready to go, she returned to the common room and accompanied her friends up to Gryffindor Tower so they could grab their bags. When they reached Gryffindor Tower, Ron tried to suggest they just take some cards out rather than their school work, but Hermione was adamant they were studying or she was going to head down to Hogsmeade and try and find Ginny or someone. As expected the prospect of her heading down to the village didn't go down well with her friends and they grabbed their bags and headed outside.

When the trio got outside they settled down on the lush grass beside the Black Lake and Hermione was pleased to find that both Harry and Ron got their books out without needing to be prompted. She'd half expected the pair to spend the day trying to convince her that she should be going into hiding, but it looked as though they were going to get a proper day's studying done.

Much to Hermione's delight the trio spent the entire morning studying, with the only conversation in relation to their school work. Not once had Harry and Ron mentioned Voldemort and the war, and Hermione could almost believe they lived in a peaceful world. Sitting on the banks of the lake with her two best friends, Hermione was able to forget all about the darkness in the world, and concentrate on her upcoming exams.

"Do you think we can break for food soon?" Ron asked as lunchtime rolled round.

"Sure," Hermione replied, realising she was also getting hungry.

Just as the trio were packing up to head back inside a rumbling noise shattered the peace and quiet. Thinking it was thunder, the three Gryffindors looked to the skies, but all they saw was clear blue sky and white fluffy clouds.

"Bloody hell," Ron suddenly gasped. "Is that smoke coming from Hogsmeade?"

Harry and Ron turned to where Ron was pointing, and they spotted a large plume of black smoke coming from the direction of the village. As they watched, the faint sounds of screaming and terror began to reach their ears.

"Shit," Harry cursed. "Hogsmeade is being attacked."

"Ginny's down there," Ron cried in horror as the trio took off running towards the school.

Hermione's thoughts immediately went to her boyfriend, and she hoped whatever was going on that Draco had managed to get away unscathed. When they reached the castle, Hermione and Ron stayed outside to keep an eye on the village, while Harry ran indoors to find Dumbledore. By the time Harry returned with Dumbledore and several other Professors, a great deal of the students had gathered outside of the castle.

"Miss Granger, I want you to take charge," Dumbledore announced. "Is Mr Malfoy in school to help you?"

"He went down to Hogsmeade," Hermione replied in a shaken voice.

"Harry, Ron, stay and help Hermione," Dumbledore barked. "I want you to gather the students in The Great Hall and take a roll call. Hopefully some people can make their own way back from the village, but we need to know how many students we've got down there."

"We want to come and help," Harry said.

"Not now, Harry," Dumbledore said. "Stay here and help Hermione."

Before Harry had a chance to say anything more, Dumbledore raised his wand and cast a silent spell. With a nod in the direction of the waiting Professors he then raised his wand and apparated off the premises. The rest of the staff followed after him, and within minutes Hermione was the most senior person in the school.

"You heard Dumbledore, let's get going," Hermione said, deciding that keeping busy would help her keep her mind off Draco, Ginny and everyone else who was down in Hogsmeade.

"Do you still think it's safe?" Ron asked warily. "Dumbledore dropped the wards preventing apparition. What's to stop the Death Eaters coming up to school now he's down in the village?"

"I'm sure he raised the wards the second everyone had left," Hermione replied, even though she had no idea if the headmaster would have even thought about the wards around the school. "But we can't stand here debating, we need to get moving."

Harry and Ron nodded as the trio split up and began herding people into The Great Hall. As they were ushering people back inside, students began to appear coming up the pathway from Hogwarts. Most of them were out of breath because they'd been running, but they managed to inform everyone else that the Death Eaters had attacked the village. The news of Death Eaters so nearby hurried the students up and within fifteen minutes everyone who was still as Hogwarts was gathered in The Great Hall.

After doing her register, Hermione urged people to keep calm as Harry and Ron hovered outside to ensure the students coming up from Hogsmeade got into the castle safely. When Harry and Ron burst through the doors with Ginny and Luna, Hermione felt a surge of relief as she hugged the scared redhead. She then gave Luna a hug, even though the pair had never really been that close.

"Do you know if there's many more people coming back to school?" Hermione asked as she checked Luna and Ginny off the registers. There was still a few students unaccounted for, including Draco and his friends.

"I don't think so," Ginny said breathlessly. "We haven't seen anyone else since we left the village, and we were lucky to get out."

"We were in the changing rooms in one of the shops when the attack started, and we were able to sneak out the back door," Luna provided. "But we had to hide before we could run back to the castle."

"So where's everyone else?" Harry asked with a frown. "Surely they're not stupid enough to be fighting?"

"I think they're in The Three Broomsticks," Ginny replied. "Because it's lunchtime the pub was pretty packed, and we spotted several people running into the pub looking for help and safety."

"Did they get it?" Ron asked.

"Help came from the pub," Ginny answered. "Rosmerta and a load of other adults came out to fight."

"And is everyone still safe inside?" Hermione asked, praying that the pub was going to be safe from the Death Eaters.

"I have no idea," Ginny admitted with a shrug. "We didn't want to risk coming out of our hiding spot. When we did think we can escape unseen, it was easier to come back up to school."

"And safer," Harry said, pulling Ginny into a hug.

Hermione watched Harry and Ginny for a few minutes, before she slipped out of The Great Hall and went and stood at the front door. She could still see smoke pouring from the village, but she was too far away to tell if things were getting worse. As she stood worrying about what was happening down in Hogsmeade, Harry and Ron joined her in the doorway. In silence the trio stood watching the smoke, each of them lost in their own thoughts.

Five minutes later there was another low rumbling and at practically the same time the Dark Mark began to form in the sky over Hogsmeade. Not two minutes after that a silver phoenix patronus swept down in front of the door. The phoenix had barely landed when Dumbledore's urgent voice came out of the patronus.

"Miss Granger, I want you to alert the authorities that we have a serious situation down in Hogsmeade," Dumbledore's voice said. "The Death Eaters are fleeing, but The Three Broomsticks is on fire with students trapped inside. Any seventh years that want to help can come down to the village, via apparition. But Miss Granger, I want you to stay up at school and keep everyone calm."

Hermione's heart sunk at the mention of the pub being on fire, but she kept her composure as she turned and hurried back into school. While Harry and Ron roused the seventh years that wanted to help, Hermione rushed to the nearest Professor's office and flooed the Ministry. She was guessing they were already aware of the attack, but she was informing them about the fire in case they needed expert equipment or wizards trained to fight fires.

"I really should be coming with you," Hermione muttered as Harry and Ron gathered with the other seventh years. Every single seventh year that was still up at school had volunteered to go back down to the village and try and help their fellow students.

"No, stay here, Hermione," Harry insisted. "We'll be back as soon as we can, you just keep everyone else calm."

Hermione watched her two best friends disappear with the other seventh years before she turned and made her way back into The Great Hall. As much as she hated to admit it, everyone was right wanting her to stay behind. Since all the staff were down in the village helping out, the students needed her to take charge. As Head Girl it was her duty to look after the other students, and that was just what she was going to do, despite the fact she was worried sick about Draco, and everyone else that was still down in Hogsmeade.

* * *

When Harry and Ron arrived in Hogsmeade they were momentarily distracted by the sight that greeted them. Zonko's and the two shops on either side if it were on fire, but that was nothing compared to the blaze that was roaring at The Three Broomsticks. It looked as though the fire had been launched through the doors and windows of the pub and both Harry and Ron hoped that not too many people were caught inside.

Shaking themselves out of their stupor, Harry and Ron rushed forward to see what they could do to help as the other students did the same. The Professors and various members of the Order were dealing with the fire, and it was made clear to everyone that no student was to enter the pub. Their job was to help the students being dragged from the fire.

The pair were relieved to see several students were already free from the flames, but as they set about helping people they quickly discovered not everyone had been so lucky. A tearful Hannah Abbott informed them that Zacharias Smith had been hit by flying glass when the first explosion struck and he'd bled out before he was pulled to safety. Looking around the pair, spotted a prone body lying a few feet away, and covered by a cloak.

"Terrible," Ron whispered, thanking his lucky stars that Ginny had gotten away safely.

As the rescue mission continued another piece of bad news reached them. Colin Creevey was trapped under some rubble and the fire was starting to spread out of control. Flitwick, Sprout and a few other people were trying to free him, but it wasn't looking good. In fact the fire was starting to spread so much that the Professors started to push those who were safe back even further and they instructed anyone who was fit enough to head back to school and report to the Head Girl.

Harry and Ron were busy helping people get to their feet to head back to school when they saw a group of people stumbling from the pub. Rushing forward to help, they were surprised to find the group were Slytherins. Blaise and Theo were supporting Daphne between them, while Crabbe and Goyle were practically carrying Tracey. Staggering behind them was a barely recognisable Draco, with his blond hair streaked with dirt, carrying an unconscious Pansy in his arms.

"What happened?" Ron asked as Draco gently placed Pansy onto the floor, before he bent over coughing badly.

"She was hit by a flying chair leg," Theo answered. "It knocked her backwards and she hit her head on the floor. She's been unconscious ever since, but she's still breathing."

"What about the rest of you? Are you fit enough to apparate?" Harry asked.

"I think we should be able to manage," Blaise said. He didn't think Daphne was up to apparating, but he was fairly confident Theo would be able to apparate the pair. "But where are we going?"

"Up to school, Dumbledore's dropped the anti-apparition wards," Harry answered. "Malfoy, are you fit enough to apparate?" He asked the still coughing blond.

"Not going anywhere," Draco managed through his cough. "Millicent's still in there. She's trapped under a table."

Before Harry, Ron or any of his friend had a chance to say anything, the blond had turned and darted back into the pub.

"Bloody hell," Ron cried. "Is he crazy?"

"No, he's just trying to help his friend," Blaise said quietly. To be honest he thought Draco was still in shock by the fact the Slytherins had been treated just the same as everyone else. Even though they were children of Death Eaters, or former Death Eaters, they'd received no preferential treatment, they'd been left to die along with everyone else.

"It's bloody madness," Ron muttered. "The rest of you should get going."

"We'll wait for Draco," Theo said.

"At least get further back then," Harry said, offering to help move Pansy. "It's not safe here. I heard McGonagall say they think the whole place is going to go up before long."

The Slytherins exchanged nervous glances as they moved further away from the fire. With each passing minute the fire was getting further out of control, and to the group's horror the adults began to retreat from the burning building. By the time most of the adults were out of the pub, there was still no sign of Draco. There was also no sign of Colin, and Harry and Ron questioned Professor Sprout who they'd heard had been with him.

"He's stuck tight," Sprout answered with a sad shake of her head. "We think his right leg in impaled, and we don't think it's going to be possible to save it."

"So how are you going to get him out?" Ron asked. "This doesn't look very good."

"It's not," Sprout agreed. "I would say we've got five minutes tops before the whole building explodes. Unfortunately we can't get Mr Creevey out in that time."

"So what, he's just left to die?" Harry asked.

"No. Professor Flitwick is with him, and as we speak he's protecting them with every bit of magic he can. All we can hope is that it's enough, and when the fire is under control, they're alive under there."

"So Professor Flitwick is risking his own life to stay with Colin?" Ron asked in awe.

"He is," Sprout answered with a nod, tears prickling at her eyes.

Harry and Ron also got tears in their eyes as they thought about how brave and selfless Flitwick was being. Hoping it worked out, the pair turned back to the burning building to see if anyone else had emerged. As they refocused on the building, they spotted two figures, one of them practically dragging the other one, emerging from the same place the Slytherins had escaped from.

"It's Draco," Blaise cried, pointing to the two figures. "And he's got Millicent."

Several of the adults rushed forward and helped Draco and Millicent away from the burning building, just as it exploded and everyone hit the floor. Burning debris began to fall around the pub, and those still too close got to their feet as quickly as they could and made a run for it. As the debris fell, a piece of burning wood hit Draco on the right shoulder and the blond went back down. Unthinkingly, Harry ran forward and helped his enemy to safety.

"All students back to Hogwarts," Dumbledore announced loudly, as the authorities finally started to arrive.

Harry and Ron took one final look at the burning building, which was now severely collapsed, and praying for Colin and Flitwick to survive, they headed back to school, each of them taking someone who was struggling with them. With all the rushing around neither of them had really had the chance to think about events, but as they returned to school, one thought was playing about in both of their minds. The attack had been about Hermione, and it was just lucky that they'd insisted she didn't go down to the village. If they hadn't been so vigilant, she might have been in the village and she might have been caught up in the attack. Yet again their best friend had been targeted, and they were both determined to make sure it didn't happen again.


	7. Chapter 7

The moment Hermione saw Draco entering the hospital wing, she felt a strong wave of relief wash over her. She couldn't remember ever being as worried about anyone, including the awful time in fourth year when Harry had been entered into the Triwizard Tournament. Not even than compared to how worried she'd been about Draco, therefore the relief was so much more potent. All Hermione wanted to do was rush over and wrap Draco in her arms, but she had enough presence of mind to shoot him a quick, relieved smile as she checked the Slytherins off her list and settle them down on some spare beds.

Harry and Ron had entered the room slightly behind the Slytherins, so Hermione made her way over to them. In the last half hour students and Professors had been returning to school, and she'd been waiting for the people she cared about to return. However, she'd kept her focus and had everything under control at Hogwarts so the staff could tend to the wounded as they made their way back to the castle.

"How are things down there?" Hermione asked after she'd given Harry and Ron a hug.

"Awful," Ron answered. "But there's just Dumbledore and a couple of Professors down there now. The Ministry have finally shown up, and they looked to be taking over."

"That's not right," Hermione said with a frown as she consulted her lists. "We've still got three students unaccounted for. Zacharias Smith, Colin Creevey and Joanne Masters."

"Who's Joanne Masters?" Harry asked.

"Fourth year Ravenclaw," Hermione replied. "A couple of her friends arrived with one of the earlier batches of students, and according to them she was right behind them as they ran into the pub. However, once they were in the pub there was no sign of her and then they were trapped in there."

"I better go and tell someone about this Joanne girl," Harry said, before he darted off to find a member of staff.

"What about Zacharias and Colin?" Hermione called as Harry disappeared in the crowds.

"Zacharias is dead," Ron said softly, as he placed a comforting hand on Hermione's arm.

"And Colin?" Hermione whispered as she blinked back tears. Even though she wasn't overly keen on Zacharias, he'd still been someone she went to school with, and he was just a seventeen year old boy, he didn't deserve to die.

"He was trapped in the pub when it exploded," Ron answered. "Professor Flitwick stayed with him and tried to protect the pair of them. We just have to wait and see if they survived."

"That's so awful," Hermione gasped, praying that both Colin and Flitwick emerged from their ordeal.

"Yes, it is," Ron said with a nod.

Before Hermione had any more chance to digest what was happening, Madam Pomfrey called for her help. Making her way through the crowded hospital wing, Hermione reached the medi-witch's side, where Madam Pomfrey told her the plan. Those who weren't injured were to go down to The Great Hall and stay with the other students, while people with smaller injuries were to remain in the hospital wing and the serious injuries were to be transferred to St Mungo's. It was Hermione's job to make sure comprehensive lists were made of where each student was so that no-one would be lost.

For the next hour, Hermione worked solidly, making sure people were where they ought to be. In that time Harry returned with the missing Ravenclaw, who'd fallen over and twisted her ankle so had hid underneath some boxes in Honeydukes back yard. Pansy, who'd yet to wake up, was transferred to St Mungo's, while Draco and Millicent remained in the hospital wing for further treatment. As for the other Slytherins, they were sent down to The Great Hall, where the elves had started to provide food. Harry and Ron also headed down to The Great Hall, while Hermione stayed and help deal with the injuries in the hospital wing. Once the students had been treated they were either settled in a bed for the rest of the day, or they could also head down to The Great Hall.

By pure coincidence, Hermione was the one assigned to tend Draco, and when she saw his jacket and shirt had both been burnt she was suddenly worried about what her boyfriend had been through. As she helped him remove the jacket and shirt so she could treat his burns, he quickly gave her the low-down on what had happened. Hermione was horrified when he mentioned that he'd twice went into the pub after it was on fire, but she had to admire his courage. Not a lot of people would have risked their life to try and help others.

"I'm just glad you're okay," Hermione whispered as she finished bandaging her boyfriend's shoulder. "I was so worried."

"Join the club," Draco replied. "That was the scariest experience of my life, and one I don't want to repeat."

"I could live without another day like today," Hermione agreed, handing Draco back his ruined shirt and jacket. "You can go down to The Great Hall now that you're all fixed up."

"Are you coming?" Draco asked as he glanced around and found apart from a few people who had to stay in the hospital wing overnight, it was starting to clear out.

Before Hermione got a chance to answer, McGonagall swept into the hospital wing and asked everyone to gather in The Great Hall. Even the students who were due to spend the rest of the day and the night in the hospital wing were asked to head down to The Great Hall so Dumbledore could address everyone. With a feeling of dread building up inside her, Hermione headed down to The Great Hall with Draco at her side.

Once everyone was settled in The Great Hall, Dumbledore began by thanking all the staff and students for their help during the crisis. He then broke the news that Zacharias was dead. Several people burst into tears at the news, and it just got more traumatic when Dumbledore turned to Colin and Flitwick. Luckily the pair had survived the blast, but they'd both been taken to St Mungo's in critical condition. Colin had lost his leg, and at the moment it wasn't known whether he would survive. As for Flitwick, his priority had been protecting Colin, therefore he bore the brunt of the explosion. He was currently in a coma, and like Colin his chances of survival weren't known at the moment.

Dumbledore also announced that anyone who wished to go home were free to write to their parents and inform them of the decision. However, he was determined to keep the school open for those people who didn't want to go home. He also said that anyone who wished to stay at school, could get a visit from their parents to reassure them they were safe.

Following Dumbledore's announcements, the students were free to go their separate ways. Hermione said a quick goodnight to Harry and Ron, before she returned to the head dorms with Draco. After events of the day all either of them wanted to do was go to bed, but Draco was still a mess and he needed a shower.

"Care to join me?" Draco asked, attempting to give Hermione a seductive smile but failing as it turned into a wince of pain as he jerked his shoulder.

"Okay, but only to help you get washed," Hermione replied. "I think what we both need is to curl up in bed and have an early night."

For the first time in their history, the couple shared a non-sexual shower. They then grabbed a quick sandwich in the kitchen alcove, before settling down for a quiet evening together. They steered clear of talking about events of the day for a while, but it was inevitable that eventually the conversation drifted back to what had happened at Hogsmeade. Eventually the couple settled down in Draco's bed and they drifted off to sleep wrapped in each other's arms, grateful that they'd survived the events of the day and still had each other. However, little did they know they would soon be torn apart.

* * *

The few weeks following the attack on Hogsmeade were rather frantic at Hogwarts. A small portion of students did decide to leave, but the majority decided they wouldn't be driven out of their school by Voldemort and his Death Eaters. For those that did stay, most of them had a visit from their parents in the couple of weeks following the attack. Draco's parents were amongst those that visited, whereas Hermione had opted not to tell her parents about the attack. She made sure the Order were looking out for them, but she didn't want them knowing the full extent of the danger she faced in the wizarding world.

The day before the Easter holidays were due to start, good news reached the school. Both Colin and Flitwick had woken up, and even though they would both be in hospital for a while, they were both expected to make full recoveries. Of course Colin's recovery would take longer as he had to contend with the loss of his leg as well as recovering from his other injuries.

The news about Colin and Flitwick brightened everyone's mood, but Hermione's good mood was destroyed by yet another argument with Harry and Ron. It all started when the pair made a remark about Easter, and seeing their families over the holidays. Like a lot of the school the pair had decided to go home for the holidays, but they were assuming Hermione was going with them.

"What do you mean you're not going anywhere?" Ron demanded when Hermione mentioned to her friends that she was staying at Hogwarts for the holidays.

"Like I said, I'm not leaving," Hermione replied with a shrug. "I'm using the holidays to get started studying for my exams."

"But with everything that's happened, we thought you would come home with us," Harry said. "Everyone wants to see you and check you're okay."

"They all know I'm okay," Hermione pointed out. "I wasn't in the village that day, everyone knows that. I'm sorry guys, but I'm not going back with you."

"Seriously? With everything that's going on, you're just going to turn your back on the people who care about you?" Ron snarled.

"I'm not turning my back on anyone," Hermione argued. "I've made the decision to stay at school for the holidays so I can study. It's not personal in any way."

"More like you're trying to avoid hearing the truth," Harry snorted. "You know if you come back with us, people will try and talk some sense into you."

"And why do I need sense talking into me?" Hermione questioned, even though she knew full well what Harry was getting at.

"Your ridiculously stubborn attempts to deny the truth," Harry answered. "You need to face up to facts Hermione, you're on Voldemort's hit list. First there was the attack near to where your parents live, and now this. He's sending a message and you're being foolish to ignore it."

"Don't you dare put what happened down in Hogsmeade on me," Hermione seethed. "There is no evidence it was anything other than an attack aimed at rattling Hogwarts. I refuse to believe that had anything to do with me."

"And there's your problem," Ron spat. "You refuse to see the big picture, and you're putting yourself in unnecessary danger."

"And if you're right, which I doubt, hiding won't solve anything," Hermione argued. "You're so convinced he's after me, so what will hiding achieve? He'll just keep coming. The only way to stop him is to kill him. That could take months, and I refuse to hide away until he's dealt with. Hiding isn't the answer, and nothing you can say will convince me otherwise. Now can we please drop this and enjoy our last night together before you two go home? Or do I go back to the head dorms now and I'll see you again after Easter?"

"We're not just dropping this, Hermione," Harry said stubbornly. "You're in danger, and we won't rest until you're safe."

"I'm not safe until Voldemort is dead," Hermione retorted as she got to her feet. "I hope you both have a good holiday and I'll see you when you get back."

Ignoring Harry and Ron's protests, Hermione left the boys dorms which was where they'd been and returned to the Gryffindor common room. Quickly saying goodbye to Ginny, she headed back to the head dorms and she didn't emerged until the next day when the Hogwarts Express had already left. Hopefully by the time Harry and Ron returned in a couple of weeks, they would have once again dropped their insistence of taking her into hiding. Truth be told, the only reason she hadn't gone home with them was that she feared the Order might try and do something stupid and keep her with them against her will. She didn't want anything like that to happen as it would lead to a monumental falling out, so it was best she kept her distance for the time being. With a bit of luck everything would had died down by the end of the year and she could take Draco to the Order without any fuss.


	8. Chapter 8

Harry was fuming at Hermione for not accompanying them over the Easter holidays. He'd tried to see things from his best friend's point of view, but he just couldn't see where she was coming from. He couldn't understand how she could be so blind about what was going on when to him it was blatantly obvious she was in severe danger. How could she not see that the attack on the village near where her parents lived and the attack on Hogsmeade revolved around her? She'd been the target of both attacks, and Harry was annoyed that someone as bright as Hermione refused to see what was right in front of her face.

For a couple of days, Harry quietly fumed over Hermione's stubbornness. However, as he did so, a plan began to form in his head. They'd tried to do things the right way, and get Hermione to see sense, but it was impossible. She wouldn't believe she was in danger, so what they would have to do was protect her without her permission. Of course, Harry felt bad for even thinking about going behind Hermione's back in such a way, but if she'd listened to them in the first place then he wouldn't be contemplating such drastic action.

"I've made a decision," Harry told Sirius as he marched into the kitchen, where his found his godfather sitting having a cup of tea with Remus.

"Good morning to you, Harry," Sirius muttered with a roll of his eyes. "Do you want breakfast?"

"Cereal will be fine," Harry said absent-mindedly as he sat down at the table. "But more importantly, I want to have a meeting about Hermione."

"I thought you and Ron were trying to talk her round," Remus said as he passed the cereal and milk to Harry.

"We've tried, and we've failed," Harry grouched. "She's the most stubborn witch I've ever met."

"I could have told you that," Sirius remarked with a chuckle. Even though he'd only known Hermione for a couple of years, he knew her well enough to know that she hated being told what to do.

"We've tried softly softly, and it just didn't work," Harry insisted. "She refuses to believe she's in danger."

"It's often hard to believe you're in danger if you haven't experienced it first hand," Remus said wisely. "After all, Hermione hasn't been involved in any of these dangerous situations. She wasn't there when You-Know-Who threatened her, and she wasn't down in Hogsmeade when the village was attacked. Maybe if she'd been caught up in the attack, she would take notice of the danger."

"Or maybe if she'd been down on the village she would be dead," Harry argued. "I'm actually pleased she's managed to avoid the danger so far, but her good luck won't last. We're due to leave school in a few months, and she'll be even more involved with the Order. She'll be at battles, and she's going to end up getting killed or kidnapped."

"But what can we do about it?" Sirius asked with a shrug. "We're trying to protect her, Harry. But how do you protect someone who refuses to acknowledge the danger they're in?"

"By making the tough decisions for her," Harry answered. "Hermione may refuse to protect herself, but I refuse to stand by and let her be hurt or killed. I'm going to protect my best friend, even if she hates me for it."

"I sense you have a plan," Remus said.

"I do," Harry confirmed with a nod. "I was hoping to run it past Dumbledore, and if he agrees we can fill in a selected portion of the Order."

"Do you want me to get in touch with him?" Sirius asked his godson.

"Yes, please," Harry replied, giving Sirius a smile before he turned his attention to his breakfast.

After breakfast, Sirius got in touch with the headmaster while Harry spent some time finalising his plans. By the time Dumbledore arrived, he wanted to have answers for everything. He wanted to show the headmaster that he'd thought things through, and hadn't just clutched at the first wild idea that had ran through his head.

By the time Dumbledore arrived, Harry's plan was solid in his head. Choosing to talk in private, the pair settled in the library while Harry briefed Dumbledore on his plan. Dumbledore listened intently to Harry's plan, and he had to admit the teenager had given it some serious thought.

"It's too extreme, isn't it?" Harry asked once he'd explained the plan and Dumbledore remained silent.

"It is extreme, but the situation is extreme," Dumbledore replied. "Miss Granger is in very real danger, and sadly she's refusing to acknowledge it. I only have one question, can you and Mr Weasley deal with the consequences of the plan?"

"What do you mean?" Harry asked with a frown.

"This plan will protect Hermione, but it will also infuriate her," Dumbledore pointed out. "Can you deal with her anger and hatred aimed towards you?"

"If she's alive, I can deal with anything," Harry answered sincerely. "I'd rather have her alive and hating me than dead. So can we do this?"

"I'll arrange a meeting for this evening," Dumbledore said as he rose to his feet. "We can sort the details out then. But before then, I suggest you speak to Mr Weasley. This plan will be the hardest on the two of you, and to for this to work you're going to have to support each other."

"I'll talk to Ron before the meeting," Harry promised. "But don't worry, like me he just wants what's best for Hermione."

Keeping his promise to Dumbledore, Harry went to talk to his best friend after the headmaster had departed Order headquarters. Ron was rather shocked by Harry's extreme plan, but by the time they finished talking he was on board with it. As tough as it was, he could see it was all for Hermione's good. Besides, if she hadn't been so stubborn such an extreme plan wouldn't be necessary.

When it came time for the meeting, Harry was pleased to discover that Dumbledore had just invited the select group that had been part of the first discussion on Hermione's safety. Aside from Dumbledore, Harry and Ron the other people present were Ron's parents, Sirius, Remus and Tonks. Even Ginny wasn't included in the meeting, and before they started, Dumbledore stressed that what they were about to discuss wasn't to be passed onto anyone. They would be the only eight people in the world that knew of their plan to keep Hermione safe.

"Harry, would you like to explain since this is your plan," Dumbledore said.

"We all know Hermione is in danger," Harry began. "Voldemort has personally threatened her, and we can all agree the attacks on the village near to where her parents live and Hogsmeade were both about Hermione. Unfortunately, Hermione isn't prepared to accept the danger she's in. She refuses to protect herself, so we're going to have to do it for her."

"What are you going to do, snatch her and keep her locked up for her own safety?" Tonks chuckled.

"That's exactly what we're going to do," Harry said with a nod of his head. "We're going to take her to safety, and keep her there until we can get rid of the threat."

"The safe house is still in place, isn't it?" Dumbledore checked with Tonks.

"Just like you ordered," Tonks replied with a nod. Even though Hermione had refused to go into hiding, Dumbledore had insisted that a safe house be kept on standby.

"So when we take her, she goes to the safe house," Ron said. "Someone has to be with her all the time, but we can take it in turns. Harry and I will even take turns once we've finished school."

"She's not going to like this," Molly said with a sigh.

"We know," Harry replied. "But it's the only way to keep her safe."

"Will it work though?" Arthur asked. "A couple of times Hermione has raised the point that if You-Know-Who really wants her, putting her into hiding won't help matters. If she just vanishes, he's going to know we're hiding her somewhere. It could be just the excuse he needs to launch fresh attacks on us."

"That's why Hermione won't be going missing," Harry answered. "She's going to be killed."

"What?" Molly screeched as Tonks also expressed her shock at the revelation.

"We're going to fake Hermione's death," Harry explained. "As far as the world is concerned, Hermione is going to die in an unfortunate accident. Voldemort won't come after her if he thinks she's dead."

"Can we pull something like that off?" Sirius asked with a frown.

"It'll take some planning, but I believe so," Dumbledore replied. "But before we press on, is there anyone here who doesn't want to be part of this plan?"

"And what happens if we say no?" Arthur questioned. He doubted they would just be able to walk away from the plan in case they spoke to anyone.

"I'm afraid I'd have to obliviate the memory of this meeting from your mind," Dumbledore answered regretfully. "Like everyone else, you would believe Hermione is dead when the time comes."

"This is a cruel plan," Arthur said quietly

"Cruel but necessary," Harry said firmly. "I won't stand back and let anything happen to Hermione. I'd rather fake her death and have her hate me, then lose her completely."

"Do you want to leave, Arthur?" Dumbledore asked.

Arthur looked over to his wife, who subtly shook her head. With Molly on board with the plan, Arthur felt he had no choice but to remain in the mix. Maybe he could be the voice of reason and try and get them to change their mind before they did something they could never take back.

"Now that's sorted, let's get planning," Harry said once Arthur confirmed he was on board. "I want to do this just after we go back to school. The sooner we can get Hermione to safety the better."

* * *

While a portion of the Order were busy planning her supposed protection, Hermione was safely ensconced in the head dorms with Draco. The pair barely left the rooms over the course of the Easter holidays, and locked away with her boyfriend, Hermione got to thinking about their plans for the future. For so long she'd been trying to persuade Draco to join the Order so they could get their happy ending, but now she was thinking it could be wise to do things differently. Given the way things were going with Harry and Ron she was wondering if it was wiser to bypass the Order and try and find some safety away from the ongoing war. Maybe it would be better all-round if she and Draco just disappeared after they left school.

Hermione mulled on her thoughts all over the break, and the final night of the holidays, she confided what she was thinking to Draco. The pair were lounging in Draco's room at the time, and the blond let Hermione get what was on her mind off her chest before offering his own opinion.

"I think it sounds nice in principal," he began warily.

"But it's not something we'll be doing," Hermione finished, knowing Draco well enough to know that he wasn't on board with her suggestion.

"It's not that I don't want to do it," Draco said gently. "I just think it holds more risks than me going to the Order. If we run, we might end up safe but there's no guarantee my parents will. I don't want to risk their lives. At least if I just join the Order, they have the choice to come with me or try and fix things with The Dark Lord. But if we run, they might not get that choice."

"I never thought of that, sorry," Hermione apologised, feeling bad for even suggesting they just ran.

"It was a good plan, it just isn't workable with the way my parents are playing things," Draco replied, giving Hermione a reassuring smile to let her know he wasn't angry at her for making a different suggestion. "It would have worked if they were back in the fold with The Dark Lord, then they could have just publically disowned me and that would have kept them safe."

"But if they were back in the dark fold, we might not be lying here," Hermione pointed out. "You might have been sucked into things before now."

"True," Draco agreed, pulling Hermione into his arms and planting a kiss to the top of her head. "But there's no point worrying about what might have been. We're lucky enough that we've got an escape plan we can follow. At the end of the year I can come to the Order with you, and we can help Potter defeat The Dark Lord once and for all."

"That would be good," Hermione replied quietly.

She just hoped that Harry and the others were accepting of Draco. She'd been preparing herself for some resistance when she took Draco to the Order, but with the way things were at the moment, she wasn't sure what sort of reaction they would get from her friends. She just hoped they weren't going to do something crazy and accuse Draco of working with Voldemort and claim he was just using Hermione to get close to the Order and find out what they were planning. Or worse yet, she hoped they weren't going to say her relationship with Draco was some sort of ploy from the dark and this was how Voldemort planned on getting his hands on her.

"You shouldn't worry so much," Draco urged his girlfriend as she lay quietly beside him. He could see she was worrying, he just didn't know what exactly she was worrying about as she'd never told him about what was going on with her friends and Voldemort.

"I'll try not to," Hermione replied, smiling up at Draco as she silently vowed to put aside her worries. She could deal with her friends and the Order at the end of the year, but right now she was lying in Draco's bed and she could certainly think of better things to occupy her time than worrying about the future.

"Maybe I should distract you," Draco said as he propped himself up on his elbow and gave Hermione a sinful grin.

"Maybe you should," Hermione agreed, grinning back at her boyfriend.

Leaning down, Draco connected his lips with Hermione's and within minutes her worries flew out of the window as she basked in Draco's touch. There was nothing better to make her forget her worries than having Draco make love to her. Sadly for Hermione, it would be the last time in a long time that Draco would get the chance to make love to her as their time together was coming to a rapid end.


	9. Chapter 9

Hermione had been half dreading her friends returning after the Easter break, but thankfully a couple of weeks away seemed to have calmed Harry and Ron down. The first thing they'd done upon their return to Hogwarts was apologise to Hermione. Both boys admitted they'd just been worried about Hermione and had overreacted to the situation. Eager to put the bad feeling behind them and get back to how things usually were, Hermione had accepted the apologies and agreed that it was for the best that they forgot any threats Voldemort may have issued in the heat of the moment.

Even with the apologies, Hermione hadn't been sure if the boys were really willing to forget what had been going on for the last few months. However, the first week of school passed smoothly and neither Harry nor Ron once mentioned her going into hiding. By the time the weekend rolled around, Hermione was beginning to suspect that someone else in the Order had spoken to the pair and convinced them that they were being rash. Whoever it was, Hermione was grateful to them as for the first time in weeks she felt as though she had her friends back.

In fact, Hermione got positive proof that the boys had dropped their whole wanting her to go into hiding routine when they suggested they head down to Hogsmeade on the Saturday morning. After the attack the village had been deserted as people came to terms with the attack, but during the Easter holidays the residents of Hogsmeade had started to rebuild. At the beginning of the term, Dumbledore had also mentioned that students from the top few years were free to go down to the village on weekends if they wanted to help with the work that was going on down in the village.

Hermione had no problem agreeing to accompany the boys down to the village as she didn't have plans with Draco. He'd already mentioned he'd arranged a quidditch practice for the Saturday morning. Although when she did mentioned going down to the village, he admitted he wasn't sure how welcome he and the other Slytherins would be. Even though they'd been caught up in the attack, and Draco himself had risked his life to save people, there were still people in school who were giving the Slytherins the cold shoulder. In a lot of people's opinions, the Slytherins may have been caught up in the attack, but it was their relatives and people they knew who had caused the damage in the first place.

"I don't think we're going to be there all day," Hermione told her boyfriend as she got ready to head down to Hogsmeade. "In fact, I think I heard Harry mention a late quidditch practice to Ron."

"I did notice the Gryffindors had the pitch booked later this afternoon," Draco replied.

"In that case we should be back by early afternoon," Hermione said. "Don't miss me too much."

"I think I can cope without you for a few hours," Draco chuckled as he gave Hermione a quick peck.

"You would think so, wouldn't you?" Hermione laughed. "But I bet you miss me."

Draco laughed in response as he grabbed his broom. Normally, he would have said Hermione was right and he would have missed her, however he was planning a pretty tough training session. They only had one more match to go before the end of term, and if they won it by a decent margin they would win the quidditch cup. Draco was determined they were going to win the cup in his final year, so he planned on pushing his team to their limits over the course of the morning, meaning he wouldn't have much time to miss Hermione.

"Don't tire yourself out completely, I have plans for you later," Hermione called to her boyfriend as he headed off.

"I can't wait," Draco called back.

Shortly after Draco had left, Hermione was ready to go. Making sure she had everything, she grabbed her bag and hurried down to the front hall to meet with Harry and Ron. As they headed down to Hogsmeade, everything was normal between the trio and Hermione could almost forget about their recent tensions. However, it wasn't so easy to forget about recent events once they reached Hogsmeade and Hermione got her first look at the destroyed village. Even though she'd seen pictures in the papers, and Draco and her friends had told her about the devastation it was still hard to see it first-hand.

"This is terrible," Hermione whispered, her gaze falling on The Three Broomsticks, which had been gutted by fire.

"It's certainly going to take some time to get things back to normal," Harry remarked.

"If it ever does," Ron said sadly. "I'm not sure anywhere can recover from an attack like this. Hogsmeade will never be the same again."

Feeling slightly deflated at the sight of the village, the trio set off to see who needed help. As it turned out they ran into Remus and Tonks almost straight away as the couple were helping out in the village. The trio joined up with the pair to help with some basic clear up work in a few of the shops bordering the village, which was where they spent most of the morning.

"Since there's nowhere to get something to eat, Rosmerta is providing hot sandwiches from her cottage over the other side of the village," Remus said when they broke to get something to eat. "How about the boys and I go and grab some food. You two girls stay here and relax."

"You won't hear me complaining about that," Tonks said with a tired sigh as she collapsed onto a nearby bench. "Come and sit down Hermione, we deserve a bit of a rest."

"Will you want hot tea or juice?" Remus asked as Hermione joined Tonks on the bench.

"Tea for me," Tonks answered, giving Remus a smile.

"I'd prefer juice," Hermione said.

"Coming right up," Harry said.

"We won't be long," Remus called as the three wizards set off to walk to the far side of the village, which would take slightly longer than normal with the destroyed buildings and damage to contend with.

Settling back on the bench, Hermione chatted with Tonks as they waited for the boys to return with their food. However, less than five minutes later a silver wolf patronus ran up to them and in Remus's voice, informed them that an emergency had occurred and that Tonks needed to get Hermione up to the safety of the castle, and he would do the same with Harry and Ron.

"I can manage myself if you need to be somewhere," Hermione assured Tonks as the two witches jumped up from their seats.

"It'll only take a few seconds if I apparate us right up to the front doors as Dumbledore still has the wards altered to allow Order members to apparate on the grounds," Tonks said. "From there you can meet up with Harry and Ron, they might know more about what's going on."

Knowing it would save them nearly fifteen minutes walking, Hermione was more than agreeable to the idea. Even though she could apparate herself, she would only be able to reach the gates and then it was at least another five minutes' walk up to the castle. This was she would be back at Hogwarts in a matter of seconds and Tonks would be free to go and see what sort of emergency had occurred.

"Let's go," Hermione said, linking her arm with Tonks's and giving the older witch permission to apparate with her. If only she knew what lay ahead for her, then she wouldn't have done any such thing, but she trusted Tonks and she had no idea the witch was going to betray her in such a horrific way.

* * *

When Draco emerged from his shower, he half expected Hermione to be back from Hogsmeade. He'd gotten slightly carried away at training and it wasn't until Vince and Greg started complaining that they were hungry that he realised they carried on well past lunch time. Letting his team go, Draco had returned to the head dorms where he'd immediately headed for a shower. Now out of the shower he planned to grab something to eat, but he had expected Hermione to be back. But then again she might have had a hard time getting away from her friends as Hermione had mentioned that they were keen to spend some time with her after the Easter break.

After getting dressed, Draco headed down to the common room where he made himself a sandwich in the small kitchen and settled down to wait for his girlfriend. In a bid to make time pass more quickly, Draco picked up a book to read. However he couldn't concentrate and just kept glancing at the clock. By the time it got to four o'clock, Draco knew it was almost time for the Gryffindor quidditch practice, so he decided to head on outside in the hopes of seeing if she was still with her friends.

Draco had barely reached the ground floor when Potter and Weasley entered the castle, laughing and joking with each other. However there was no sign of Hermione with them, causing Draco to frown in confusion. If Hermione wasn't with her friends, why hadn't she returned to the head dorms?

"Hey Potter, where's Granger?" Draco called.

"What is it to you?" Harry asked, turning around so he was facing the blond.

"Head duties," Draco replied, the lie falling from his lips easily. "We need to discuss a few things, and she's not in our dorms."

"She must be up in Gryffindor Tower," Harry answered with a shrug. "And who can blame her, having to share living quarters with a ferret like you."

Ron laughed at Harry's retort, and before Draco could say any more the pair carried on heading into the school, and up the main staircase. Draco glared after the pair, annoyed at their lack of concern for their best friend. However, it wouldn't do any good to confront them. He would go and check the head dorms in case she'd returned while he'd been out and if there was still no sign of her, he would go and speak to Snape. Maybe he could help him locate the Head Girl.

Draco had just reached the top of the main staircase when the doors below him banged open. Turning round he spotted a frantic looking Nymphadora Tonks entering the castle, with Remus Lupin staggering in behind her. Lupin was carrying someone in his arms and as he started to ascend the stairs, Draco spotted the familiar curls of his girlfriend.

"What happened?" Draco demanded, running back down the stairs.

"Hermione's hurt." Remus replied, not stopping to let Draco get a good look at the Head Girl. "Go and get Professor Dumbledore, now."

"Move it, Draco," Tonks yelled as the blond stood their looking dumbfounded. "Go and get help, now."

Coming out of his trance, Draco took one final look at his limp girlfriend before sprinting off in search of the headmaster. With his position as Head Boy he knew the password to Dumbledore's office, even though he'd never used it before. Barrelling past the gargoyle, he flew up the short flight of stairs and hammered on the headmaster's door. After what seemed like an eternity, Dumbledore opened the door, an unimpressed look on his face.

"You need to come to the hospital wing," Draco panted out before Dumbledore had a chance to scold him for banging on the door. "Hermione's been hurt. Lupin was carrying her into school."

"What happened?" Dumbledore demanded as he left his office and followed Draco down the stairs.

"I don't know," Draco answered. "I was just told to come and get you."

"I appreciate it, Mr Malfoy," Dumbledore said. "Now, why don't you head back to the head dorms?"

"I want to check Hermione's all right," Draco insisted. "She's my friend," he added, when Dumbledore looked at his curiously.

Dumbledore nodded, knowing for a fact that the head students had learnt to get along and were pretty friendly. "Come on then, but you'll have to wait outside of the hospital wing while I check out what's going on."

Draco wanted to argue with Dumbledore, but considering the wizard didn't like him he had to consider himself lucky he was being allowed to go to the hospital wing at all. If Dumbledore really wanted to he could easily insist Draco return to the head dorms.

Once they reached the hospital wing, Dumbledore sat Draco down in one of the chairs that lined the corridor outside the hospital wing, before rushing in to see what was happening. Draco sat for what felt like an eternity, and in that time Professor McGonagall arrived at the hospital wing, before leaving and retuning again with Potter and Weasley in tow. Making Harry and Ron sit down next to Draco, McGonagall once again entered the hospital wing.

"What are you doing here?" Ron asked Draco once McGonagall was out of earshot.

"Waiting to see how Hermione is," Draco replied. He didn't bother to keep the pretence of referring to Hermione by her surname, as he was far too worried to bother about her idiot friends figuring out just how close they were.

"And why would you care?" Harry spat.

"It may have escaped your notice, Potter, but we do live together," Draco replied with a snarl. "We've become friends."

Neither Harry nor Ron had a chance to respond before the doors to the hospital wing opened and a sombre looking Dumbledore and McGonagall entered the corridor. Immediately Harry and Ron started to ask about Hermione, but the headmaster quietened them down instantly.

"I'm afraid Miss Granger is in a pretty bad way," Dumbledore announced seriously. "It looks as though she fell in the forest and was attacked by an animal of some sort. Luckily Remus and Tonks spotted her bag by the pathway and were able to find her in the forest."

"Why was she in the forest?" Draco asked. "And why did you two leave her?" he demanded, rounding on Hermione's so called friends. "She went with you, you should have been with her."

"We thought she'd come back to school," Harry answered. "After a few hours she was getting tired and decided to come back to do some studying. We stayed on to help put up a new wall in one of the collapsed shops."

"It's not Mr Potter or Mr Weasley's fault," Dumbledore said quietly. "Miss Granger is a big girl and she's more than capable of walking up to school from the village alone."

"But why was she in the forest?" Draco repeated. "It makes no sense."

"I'm sure we'll find out in due time," Dumbledore replied. "But for now, Miss Granger is still unconscious and being treated for her injuries. When she wakes, we'll get the full story of what happened."

"When will that be?" Ron asked. "Can we see her now?"

"You'll not be able to visit Miss Granger tonight," McGonagall told the three boys. "Madam Pomfrey is still working on her. We'll talk about visiting in the morning, but for now I suggest the three of you head back to your common rooms. There's nothing you can do here, Miss Granger is in safe hands."

Reluctantly, Draco turned around with Harry and Ron and headed away from the hospital wing. The two Gryffindors didn't stick with his slow pace for very long and as soon as they were out of sight of the hospital wing they broke into a run as they headed back to Gryffindor Tower. Still moving at a snail's speed, Draco headed back to the head dorms to spend his first night there without Hermione. What he didn't realise was that Hermione would never spend another night in the head dorms, in fact this was her last ever night at Hogwarts.


	10. Chapter 10

Without Hermione beside him, Draco slept fitfully. He was constantly waking up, worrying if his girlfriend was okay. By the time the sun rose, Draco himself was ready to get up. However he knew Madam Pomfrey wouldn't allow him into the hospital wing too early, so he bided his time by having a long shower before dressing. Even then he was still ready to go long before breakfast, so he had to wait in the head dorms for a while.

Draco had just decided to head off to the hospital wing when a strange buzzing filled the air. Frowning Draco looked around, but couldn't see where the noise was coming from. Seconds later he realised the buzzing was a magical communications device activating as Dumbledore's grave voice filled the head dorms.

"All students and staff are to report to the Great Hall immediately."

Dumbledore repeated the message three times, before the buzzing sounded again and silence reigned in the head dorms. Draco stood for several moments as he tried to convince himself the message had nothing to do with Hermione. However his gut was telling him otherwise, and he feared what Dumbledore was going to say.

With a sense of trepidation, Draco made his way down to the Great Hall. It would appear a lot of the students had taken Dumbledore's instruction of immediately literally and hadn't even bothered to dress, instead they were turning up in their nightclothes. As students gossiped amongst themselves about what was going on, Draco's eyes were firmly on the staff gathered at the front of the hall. They all looked pale and shaken and Professor Sprout was holding a handkerchief to her face. As his worry grew, Draco scanned the Gryffindor table. He easily found the seventh years in the middle of the table, but Potter and Weasley weren't with them. Further inspection showed there was no sign of the female Weasley either. The realisation that Hermione's closest friends were missing only added to the feeling that something was terribly wrong.

"What's going on?" Blaise hissed to Draco as the seventh year Slytherins arrived in the Great Hall.

"Don't know," Draco replied, forcing the words out of his mouth.

Before Draco's friends had a chance to say anything else, Dumbledore stood up and called for quiet. Instantly the room fell silent and everyone looked towards the Headmaster, eager to see what had made him feel the need to summon everyone so early on a Sunday morning.

"As I'm sure most of you know our Head Girl, Hermione Granger was seriously injured yesterday on her way back from Hogsmeade," Dumbledore began. "I'm sorry to say that during the night Miss Granger took a turn for the worse and had to be rushed to St. Mungo's. Tragically, the healer's couldn't save her and Miss Granger passed away in the early hours of the morning."

As cries and gasps were heard all around the room, Draco sat with a blank expression on his face. As soon as Dumbledore began speaking, Draco knew what he was going to say and he barely heard the words 'passed away' when the Headmaster uttered them. All Draco could hear was Hermione's voice in his head, promising to see him soon. But she wouldn't, he would never see the witch he loved again. He'd lost her.

As the realisation that Hermione was gone began to sink in, Draco felt a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. He also felt tears stinging at the back of his eyes. Abruptly standing up, he pushed his way out of the Great Hall and hurried in the direction of the head dorms, desperate to get away before he broke down. As he rushed through the corridors, Draco felt the tears pooling in his eyes but he resolutely refused to shed them in public.

Reaching the head dorms he managed to choke out the password to the portrait guarding the dorms. Yanking the portrait open, Draco flew inside and slamming the door shut behind him, he sank to the floor. Finally alone, Draco let out his anguish as harsh sobs wracked his body. Wrapping his arms around himself, Draco remained on the floor as he continued to sob heavily.

After a long period of time crying so heavily, Draco began to feel nauseous. Picking himself up off the floor he just say made it to the bathroom before throwing up the contents of his stomach. Slumping down on the cold, hard tiles of the bathroom floor, Draco continued to cry. The only difference was the harsh, body wracking sobs had faded and he was crying softly, his heart breaking as he faced a lifetime without the witch he loved by his side.

Draco lost track of time as he sat curled up in the bathroom, but when he did finally haul himself to his feet and looked outside it was growing dark. Listlessly, Draco made his way from the bathroom and paused in the hallway. Instead of entering the room on the right, which was his, he entered the room on the left, which had been Hermione's. Apart from the odd times they'd had an argument, Hermione had barely slept in the room but the entire place was full of her presence. Her clothes were strewn about haphazardly, there was a pile of books on the nightstand and lying on her bed was one of his shirts. No doubt Hermione had been wearing it one time when she'd went to get dressed and had just left it lying on her bed. Draco picked the shirt up, and raising it to his face he smelt her scent lingering on the material.

Taking the shirt with him, Draco made his way back to his own room and collapsed onto the bed after yanking his shoes off. He could vaguely remember Dumbledore saying classes were cancelled the following day, but he wasn't in the slightest bit bothered. What was the point without Hermione? He really had nothing to live for anymore, certainly not school.

Pulling the pillow Hermione always slept on towards him, Draco clung onto it along with the shirt as his tears began to fall again. With Hermione's scent invading his senses, Draco eventually drifted off into a restless sleep. A few hours later he awoke with a start, knowing exactly what he was going to do. He'd just decided there was no point to his life without Hermione, so why should he bother living anymore. He knew the perfect way to end his suffering.

Jumping out of bed, Draco pulled on his shoes and grabbed his wand. Never looking back he strode out of the head dorms and made his way through the quiet castle. Finding one of the side doors unlocked he slipped out into the night and made his way to the school gates. The second Draco crossed the boundary he raised his wand and disappeared into the night with a crack.

* * *

It was nearly midnight when Lucius Malfoy felt the wards around the manor ripple. He knew they'd hadn't been breached by an intruder, it was Draco who was home for some reason.

"Is that Draco?" Narcissa Malfoy asked, poking her head around the bathroom door. She wasn't quite as attuned into the wards as her husband, but she'd registered the presence of her son on the premises.

"It feels like it," Lucius answered as he got out of bed and pulled on his dressing gown. "I'll go and see what's going on."

Narcissa hurried out from the bathroom, and after pulling on her own silk dressing gown she followed her husband out of the bedroom and down to the ground floor. When they entered the front room they found Draco standing in the center of the large room. Flicking her wand to light up the room, Narcissa gasped when she laid eyes on Draco. Her son's normally immaculate hair was a mess and his usual neat clothes were wrinkled as though he'd slept in them. However what was more shocking was the fact he looked paler than normal, and his eyes were devoid of any emotion as well as being red rimmed as though he'd been crying.

"Draco, what are you doing here?" Lucius asked.

"What's wrong?" Narcissa questioned almost at the same time as her husband.

"I want to speak to The Dark Lord," Draco replied in an expressionless voice.

"Why?" Narcissa asked quietly.

"That's private between him and myself," Draco told his mother. "He's staying with Aunt Bella, isn't he?"

"Yes, but you can't just go barging in," Lucius protested.

"Watch me," Draco muttered as he strode towards the fire and grabbed some floo powder. Before either of his parents could react, he stepped into the emerald flames and disappeared.

"Go after him," Narcissa ordered Lucius. "He'll get himself killed barging in on The Dark Lord."

Knowing his wife made a valid point, Lucius grabbed his own handful of floo powder and followed Draco to Bellatrix's house. When he arrived, Lucius was just in time to see Draco heading out of the room he'd landed in. Chasing after his son he managed to catch up with him in the hallway and stop him.

"What's going on Draco?" Lucius asked, keeping a tight hold of his son's arm. "Why aren't you at school?"

"I'm finished with school," Draco answered.

"Okay," Lucius said slowly, trying to work out exactly what was going on with his son. Draco was actually a pretty conscientious student and he couldn't imagine him walking out on his upcoming exams without a damn good reason. "Why are you here? Why do you want to see The Dark Lord?"

"I was wondering the same thing myself," a cold voice called from the nearby stairwell.

Lucius and Draco both looked up to see Lord Voldemort descending slowly the stairs, his red eyes fixed on the two Malfoys in the hallway.

"I want to speak to you in private," Draco told Voldemort as he pulled out of his father's grasp. "It's important."

"Very well, step into the study." Voldemort gestured to a closed door to the right of the hallway, before turning his attention to Lucius. "Lucius, you may go home now. I'm sure Draco will be along when we're finished."

"Yes My Lord." Lucius bowed his head respectfully at the dark wizard. While he and Narcissa were officially remaining neutral in the war, both Lucius and Voldemort knew his loyalty was truly with The Dark Lord and his supporters, if it hadn't been Voldemort would have disposed of the Malfoys a long time ago.

While Lucius headed off back home, Draco entered the study Voldemort had pointed him in the direction of. Seconds later The Dark Lord entered the room and closed the door behind them.

"What can I do for you, Draco?" Voldemort asked, settling himself at the desk.

"I'm here to tell you something," Draco said. "For the last two years I've been dating a muggleborn witch. I'd also decided to go to the Order of the Phoenix once I'd finished school. I was going to fight against you and your Death Eaters."

"Was? Does that mean you're not going to anymore?" Voldemort questioned, bemused by what Draco was telling him.

"I've got no reason to," Draco replied. "My reason has gone."

"So what, you've come to throw yourself on my mercy?" Voldemort cackled. "I don't do mercy, Draco."

"I'm not after mercy," Draco replied. "The witch I love is dead, and if she was still alive I would happily go to the Order to help them defeat you, so she could live in peace."

"So you were going to the Order because of love," Voldemort smirked. Clearly without a love interest on the light, Draco wasn't actually against him or what he stood for.

"Yes, and now she's gone."

"I'm still not sure why you're telling me this."

"I'm telling you because you hate muggleborns, and you hate wizards who get involved with them. Well I was involved with one, I love one. I will always love a muggleborn," Draco told the dark wizard sitting in front of him.

Voldemort smiled coldly as he suddenly realised exactly what Draco wanted from him. He didn't want mercy, or to pledge his allegiance to him, he wanted out. Draco wanted him to strike out in anger and kill him, ending his suffering once and for all.

Pulling out his wand, Voldemort pointed it at Draco. "I'm not going to give you want you want," he told the young wizard, before silent shooting a spell at him.

Draco sighed in disappointment, before an excruciating pain seared through his left arm. Immediately knowing what was happening, Draco looked down and saw the dark mark forming on his pale forearm.

"Why?" he hissed, looking up at Voldemort. "I didn't ask for this."

"I've long since thought you'd make a good addition to my numbers, but you're so very good at burying your cold, deadly side," Voldemort explained. "Now however, I can see it so clearly. Your reason for burying the darkness within you is gone, and I intend to exploit that. You are going to make a fine Death Eater, Draco. Just you wait and see."

Draco stared at Voldemort in shock as the dark wizard casually walked past him and dismissed him. Draco looked at the mark for several moments, before turning and leaving the study. Voldemort was now heading back upstairs, and didn't give Draco a second glance as the blond boy made his way back towards the fire and flooed home.

Back at the manor, Lucius and Narcissa were eagerly awaiting Draco's return and they bombarded him with questions when they spotted his mark. Draco told his parents exactly what he'd told Voldemort - that he'd planned on going to the Order with a muggleborn witch. He also confessed that he'd gone to see The Dark Lord in hopes of ending his life.

"Draco, you can't possibly have meant for that to happen," Narcissa gasped when her son mentioned the reason he chose to visit Voldemort.

"I did," Draco replied sharply. "And while things didn't go as planned, I can still achieve my goal as a Death Eater."

Ignoring his parents shocked reactions, Draco left the room and headed up to his wing of the manor. He may still be alive, but he wouldn't be for much longer if he got his way. Being a Death Eater was a dangerous business, especially if you weren't planning on being careful. With any luck the Order would dispose of him the first time he faced them in a battle, permanently ending the pain he was in. Without Hermione he didn't want to live, and he had no intention of doing so. Losing Hermione had broken Draco and it was now just a matter of time before he followed her into the oblivion of death.

 **To be continued …**

* * *

 **A/N – I want to thank people for reading and reviewing this story. Part 2 will be started in three weeks time on the 28th of March.**


	11. Part 2

The second part of Shattered Trust has now been posted.

It is called Shattered Trust – Separation, and is rated M.


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